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The Methodist Episcopal 
Church and the Civil War 



Bs 7*«fr 

WILLIAM WARREN SWEET, Ph. D. 

Assistant Professor of History, Ohio Wesley an University. 



A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School 
of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Ful- 
fillment of the Requirements for the 
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 




CINCINNATI: 
METHODIST BOOK CONCERN PRESS 



- - 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction, 9 

By Professor R. T. Stevenson, Ph. D. 



I. The Status of the Methodist Episcopal 

Church at the Opening of the War, 15 

II. The Church on the Border, 47 

III. The Church in the New England and 

Atlantic States, 63 

IV. The Church in the Central and North- 

western States, 80 

V. Missions of the Church in the South 

During the War, 96 

VI. Methodist Periodicals, - - - 111 

VII. Methodist Chaplains in the Union 

Armies, 133 

VIII. The War Bishops, _ , - 142 

IX. Methodist Co-operation with Inter- 
denominational Organizations, - 161 

X. Bibliography, 177 

5 



Contents 
APPENDIX. 

PAGE 

A. Names of Methodist Chaplains, - - 189 

B. Names of Methodist Preachers Who Were 

Delegates of the U. S. Christian Com- 
mission, ___--- 197 

C. Letter to Jefferson Davis by a Confederate 

Officer, Concerning Bishop Ames, - 208 

D. Outline of Bishop Simpson's Lecture on "Our 

Country ; " Bishop Simpson's Funeral 
Oration Over the Body of Lincoln, - 211 

E. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 

Relation to the War, - 219 



F. Tabulated List of Memorials Presented to 
the General Conference of 1860, For and 
Against Changing the Rule on Slavery, 



PREFACE 

This study of the Methodist Episcopal Church in its 
relation to the Civil "War was begun several years ago, 
and was continued and is brought to its present form as 
a Doctor's Thesis at the University of Pennsylvania. 
And I wish in the very beginning to acknowledge the 
advice and assistance I have received, particularly from 
Professor H. V. Ames, of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and also from Professor R. T. Stevenson, of the 
Ohio Wesleyan University, who has written the Intro- 
duction. 

The study deals with facts alone, and I have tried 
to be absolutely fair to all parties. Most of the material 
which I have had to use is of controversial character, 
and it was not always easy to come to a conclusion as 
to the exact facts, and it is not at all to be wondered 
at if I have made mistakes in some of my conclusions; 
but while I admit possible mistakes, I can still lay 
claim to a clear conscience, as far as fairness is con- 
cerned. In many places the account is not as readable 
as I should have liked to have made it, and where such 
is the case I have no excuse to offer except that in 
my desire to be fair I have crowded down all feeling 
and any attempt at a glorification of the Church, the 
absence of which has perhaps made the narrative seem 
more prosaic. 

The material I have used has been practically un- 
touched by the regular historian. My peculiar sources 
have been such as the Church periodicals, Minutes of 
the General Conferences and the several Annual Con- 
ferences, Church records, minutes of preachers' meet- 
ings, histories of individual Churches, and biographies 

7 



Preface. 

of prominent Church officials, such as the bishops, the 
general secretaries of the various Church societies, and 
the private papers of others intimately connected with 
the Church and its activities during the war. 

In making this study it was not my object to glorify 
the Methodist Episcopal Church because of the impor- 
tant part she took in the Civil War, but it was to tell 
in a scientific manner just what the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, taken as a typical example of the other 
Churches, did in aiding the Federal Government to bring 
to a successful close the War of the Rebellion. The 
thesis of this study is to show the importance of the 
Churches as an aid to the Government during the Civil 
War. 

I also entertain the hope that this attempt to tell 

the story of the relation of the Methodist Episcopal 

Church to the Civil War may prove of some interest 

and value to those who love the Church of their fathers. 

Delaware, Ohio, July 1, 1912. W. W. S. 



INTRODUCTION 

The writer of the following thesis set for himself a 
serious task. So far as I know it has not been attempted 
by any one else. The connection between Church and 
State in America is intimate and vital. It is not legal. 
The Constitution prohibits any such interdependence as 
European history so fully illustrated for centuries. 

Yet neither can do without the other. According to 
Professor Seeley, of Cambridge University, religion is 
the great State-making principle. Its whole genius tends 
to order, to adjustment of social relations, to support 
of good government, to peace. To secure these it may 
even become the blesser of battlefields. At least it 
achieved this character in the past. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church entered upon its 
unparalleled career of expansion with the birth of the 
American Republic. Its first two bishops, Coke and 
Asbury, were the earliest ecclesiastical officials to tender 
to the first President of the American Union the unani- 
mous support of their Church immediately upon its or- 
ganization. They asked no favors of money or legal 
support, only that they might procure through their 
evangel a high and loyal devotion to the lofty purpose 
which animated the fathers of the Republic — that of 
planting on the "Western Continent a new and abiding 
government of, by, and for the people. That such an 
expending democracy and such an ecclesiastical system 
should have developed deep sympathy with each other's 
aim is not to be reckoned strange. In the Middle Ages 
State and Church were wedded in indissoluble bonds, 
but it was not to be so in the nineteenth century. It 
was reserved for the Mississippi Valley to illustrate the 



Introduction. 

intermingling of a free faith and a mighty nationalism ; 
the State giving freedom to the Church, and the Church 
giving to the State moral character. 

Long years after the visit of the bishops to the Presi- 
dent a distinguished successor of Coke and Asbury 
headed a committee under appointment by the General 
Conference of 1864 to go to Washington and to convey 
to Abraham Lincoln assurances of loyalty to the cause 
of the Union. It was a time of profound anxiety, and 
the reply of the President showed his appreciation of 
what the committee brought to him. His words, care- 
fully written out before their arrival after he had read 
their statement laid before him by one of their number, 
included the famous tribute to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, which " sends more soldiers to the field, more 
nurses to the hospital, and more prayers to heaven 
than any," because of its greater size. What the Presi- 
dent felt was true of the relation between the State 
and the Church he expressed in the immortal benedic- 
tion, his closing word to the committee : ' ' God bless the 
Methodist Church — bless all the Churches — and blessed 
be God, who in this our great trial giveth us the 
Churches. " 

No one can doubt, with such a statement as the above 
from this master of men and words, the propriety of 
the effort of the writer of this thesis to discover the 
place and to measure the power and to characterize the 
quality of the services rendered the Union by the 
Church he has selected for illustration of his proposi- 
tion. It is now far enough removed from the terrific 
struggle for men to use scientific rather than passionate 
animus to set forth the work of the dead. The spirit 
and method of proceedure used by Mr. Sweet are not 
those of a laudator, but of the scientific analyst, as be- 
comes the accomplishment of the doctorate of philosophy 
degree for which he offers this in the University of 
Pennsylvania. In no sense is he a special pleader. He 

10 



Introduction. 

has not suffered his natural affection for the Church of 
his fathers to queer his judgment. Nor has he allowed 
the substitution of any graces of style for careful re- 
search and of accurate, even bald and unadorned state- 
ment of facts. To sacrifice otherwise pardonable en- 
thusiasm for the sake of stoic impartiality is no mean 
use of the altar of scholarship. He has spared no pains 
to reach original material in unearthing, when possible, 
unpublished private and official documents. His bibli- 
ography reveals his obligations. 

A swift survey will indicate his aim and its results. 
That one may state properly the position of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church during the War of the Rebellion, 
he must pick up the thread of history farther back in 
time. Great institutions never step up to a fixed date 
with convictions duly marked for delivery, unchanged 
from start to destination. No cross section at any one 
date satisfies the historian. So the author handles with 
impartial statement the developing attitude of the 
Church towards slavery. This was fundamentally ob- 
ligatory, as involved in the development of both State 
and Church. What the Church thought of the labor 
system of a giant section of the Nation was as impor- 
tant to set forth as the thought of the State, for the 
same men who worked the enginery of strife were those 
who were trained in supplication. On both sides gallant 
soldiers were true Christians. A general view of the 
numerical strength of the Church and its distribution 
in the States demanded analysis. The first chapter is 
taken up with this duty. 

In the second chapter we find an impartial resume 
of the work of the Church in the Border States. Fairly 
to state the case upon the soil where for decades and 
on into the years of strife members of the Church held 
differing views of the political situation is not without 
difficulty, yet even here the spirit of impartiality is 
manifest. In the third chapter the task is easier, for 

11 



Introduction. 

in New England the wind blew in the main all one way, 
and nearly so also in New York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania. In order in the following chapter is related 
the position of the membership of the Church in the 
central and northwest sections of the Nation. With the 
narration of the work of the General Conference of 
1864 the fourth chapter is brought to an end. 

In chapter five the writer enters what would have 
been forty years ago a mine, with its narrow alleys filled 
with mephitic gases, a peril to any but the miner carry- 
ing a Davy lamp, his only safety against explosion ; now, 
in the better air of cooler and unprejudiced reflection, 
one can walk without a safety lamp pinned to his brow. 
At any rate the historian content with only the truth 
is safe. With that alone the coming age will be satisfied. 
Less frankness would have led the writer to stop with 
an earlier date, but such a spirit never gets the world of 
scholarship along. Having entered upon the discussion, 
it must get on to the end. It is enough to say that, as 
war has always interfered with the normal order of 
human society, it could not be expected suddenly to 
change the conviction of the Church as to its duty to 
go to its membership or sympathizers across the Ohio 
River. To take up work either among the negroes in 
the South or among the whites where it was welcomed, 
and in any case where such work would not have been 
done had not the Methodist Episcopal Church attempted 
to do it, and in fields where the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, had been crippled by the war, was the 
call of high duty as it appeared to our fathers. The 
justification of it all was felt in later years by such 
men as Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, of Georgia. In 
saying this there is not any purpose to justify any hot 
Words or unfraternal acts which followed the final sur- 
render of the Southern army. Later wisdom will see 
how to prevent duplication of work wherever earlier im- 
pulse may have erred. But this is merely by way of 

12 



Introduction. 

granting that Mr. Sweet had nothing else to do but to 
recite the facts, as he has done. 

It is past belief that so active a body of men should 
not have given expression to their convictions in the 
Church papers. Mr. Sweet has made an interesting 
chapter upon the Church Press. In such papers as 
Zion's Herald, published in Boston, there was the ut- 
most abandon of patriotic fervor. And with equal de- 
votion we find the Western Christian Advocate, in Cin- 
cinnati, on the border, uttering no doubtful word. On 
the first page of his editorial work Dr. Calvin Kingsley 
wrote thus, on the date of June 5, 1861 : "What is the use 
of writing upon anything else? It will not be read; 
or if read, not remembered or thought of. The subject 
engrosses all thought, all interest. "We read about it, 
we talk about it ; we dream about it ; we preach about it ; 
we pray about it." After this fashion he mirrored the 
views of scores of others. 

Akin to this was the support of such brilliant men 
as the Rev. Dr. John McClintock, in Paris, where he 
used the press and any other available agency to quiet 
the French Government when it was striving to aid the 
Southern Confederacy. 

An interesting presentation of the faithfulness of 
the Methodist army chaplains fills the next chapter. 
No little place was theirs. They were a truly heroic 
class of men. In the list were men like Granville Moody, 
of Ohio ; Evan Stevenson, of Indiana ; and W. H. Gilder, 
of New York. When we reach the story of the War 
Bishops, such men as Matthew Simpson and E. R. Ames 
rise at call, whose devotion and tremendous force proved 
a huge asset in favor of the Union. 

Finally a chapter is devoted to all the phases of co- 
operation with other Churches, in which the Government 
was made to feel that it had at call every form of might 
which the different denominations could put at the dis- 
posal of the struggling Nation. The Christian Sanitary 

13 



Introduction. 

Commission, the Bible Society, the Freedmen's Aid So- 
cieties, were solid proof that up to their ability the 
members of the Churches were using both arms of power, 
the human and the divine, for the sustenance of the 
National life. In fine, never in history have the 
Churches of a land so fully flung themselves into a 
great conflict as during the dreadful-glorious years of 
1861-1865, when the American people issued from strife 
a united Nation. A thousand things were said and 
done which left sorry memories; yet as time goes on 
and exercises its soothing agencies, the children of the 
soldiers will more and more come to see eye to eye and 
unite in thanking God that His will prevailed and the 
peaceful program of the long ages of a great Nation 
suffered only from one sharp collision between men of 
heroic mold but of differing views, now and henceforth 
to join in furthering the cause of liberty through the 
service of a "Free Church in a Free State." 

R. T. Stevenson. 
Ohio Wesleyan University, 

Delaware, Ohio, June 19, 1912. 



THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
AND THE CIVIL WAR. 



♦ 



CHAPTER I. 

The Status of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at the Opening of the War. 

To get an understanding of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at the opening of the Civil War it will be neces- 
sary to review the contest over slavery which took place 
within the Church, and which finally resulted in the 
great schism of 1844. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 
Baltimore in the year 1784, and at this time the General 
Rules, which had been prepared by Mr. Wesley in 1739 
for the English Societies, were adopted, among them 
being one forbidding "the buying or selling the bodies 
and souls of men, women, or children, with an intention 
to enslave them.'* 1 This organizing Conference, besides 
adopting this rule forbidding slavery within the Church, 
gave attention also to the extirpation of the whole sys- 
tem. Question Forty-two of the Minutes reads, "What 
methods can we take to extirpate slavery ? ' ' 2 This ques- 
tion is then answered by a sweeping indictment against 
the whole system, which is followed by six special rules 
designed completely to destroy slavery within the 
Church. The summary of these rules is as follows: 
(1) Every slave-holding member, within twelve months 

lte Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church," Matlack, p. 58. 

2 Discipline, 1784 (reprint), pp. 14, 15. 

15 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

is required to execute a deed of manumission, gradually 
giving his slaves their freedom. (2) All infants who 
were born after these rules went into force were to have 
immediate freedom. (3) Members who chose not to com- 
ply were allowed to withdraw within twelve months. 
(4) The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to be 
denied to all such thenceforward. (5) No slave-holders 
were to be admitted thereafter to Church membership. 
(6) Any member who bought, sold, or gave slaves 
away, except on purpose to free them, were immediately 
to be expelled. 3 

Slavery had evidently found its way into the Metho- 
dist societies during the Revolution, and very probably 
without the knowledge of either Mr. "Wesley or his as- 
sistant in America, Mr. Francis Asbury. One writer 
points out that almost every preacher received into the 
ministry during the Revolution was from the South, 
and that all the Conferences from 1776 to 1787 were 
held in what were afterwards the Slave States. From 
1777 to 1783 there was not one appointment north of 
some parts of New Jersey, and out of a membership 
of about fourteen thousand in 1783 only about two 
thousand resided in what were afterwards known as 
Free States. 4 

For a number of years the rules adopted in the Con- 
ference of 1784 remained in force and were quite 
largely complied with. A Methodist residing in the 
South from 1785 to 1826 writes that he never knew 
of but one instance where they were neglected by a 
member, and that was his next-door neighbor, at whose 
house the presiding elder once called on business and, 
on being asked to remain for dinner, replied, "I never 
eat a meal in a Methodist slave-holder's house." 5 It 

3 Matlaek, p. 59. 

4 "The Methodist Episcopal Church and Slavery," DeVinne, 
pp. 11-13. 

5 Zion's Watchman, April 8, 1838. Quoted in Matlaek, pp. 
59, 60. 

16 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

seems that the preachers, for a few years after these 
rules were passed, preached boldly against slave-holding, 
and not a few Methodist slave-holders liberated their 
slaves. 6 But these rules also met with immediate oppo- 
sition in many sections of the South. Bishop Asbury in 
his Journal says, "At the Virginia Conference for 1785 
several petitions were presented by some of the principal 
members, urging the suspension of the rules." 

This bold position, taken by the Church at its be- 
ginning, began to be receded from, however, by 1786, 
for in the Discipline of that year Methodists are for- 
bidden to buy and sell slaves, but nothing is said about 
slave-holding, thus permitting it by inference, at least. 7 
In 1792 another receding step is taken by omitting the 
law passed in 1786, retaining only the prohibition 
against slavery in the General Rules. 8 

In 1796, however, the Church's position in opposi- 
tion to slavery was again strengthened by a note pre- 
pared by the bishops and appended to the General Rules. 
This note begins with the words, "The buying and sell- 
ing the souls of men . . . is a complicated crime." 9 
This year also a new section "Of Slavery" was added, 
and the attempt to drive slavery from the Church was 
renewed, by the adoption of four new rules looking to 
that end. 

In 1800 two more rules were added. These rules 
were not nearly so stringent as those of 1784, for only 
Church officials were required to emancipate their 
slaves, and preachers who became slave-holders were re- 

6 Matlack, p. 60. Also ' ' Barratt 's Chapel and Methodism, ' ' by 
Hon. Norris S. Barratt, pp. 41, 42. 

In January, 1796, Andrew Barratt, "being persuaded that lib- 
erty is the natural birthright of all mankind and keeping any in 
perpetual slavery is contrary to the injunctions of Christ," for 
which reason he "did manumit and set absolutely free all his Ne- 
groes, thirteen in all, so that henceforth they shall be deemed, ad- 
judged and taken as free people." — Quoted from Deed Boole E, 
vol. 2, p. 264, Dover, Del. 

7 Matlack, p. 60. 8 Ibid, p. 62. 
9 Discipline, 1796, pp. 169-171. 

17 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

quired to withdraw from the ministry or else emancipate 
their slaves. These rules, also, by inference allow mem- 
bers to hold slaves, but they must not buy or sell them. 10 

The General Conference of 1800 authorized an "Ad- 
dress to all their brethren and friends in the United 
States," calling special attention to slavery, which was 
signed by the three bishops: Coke, Asbury, and What- 
coat, and also by three prominent ministers: Ezekiel 
Cooper, William McKendree, and Jesse Lee. This ad- 
dress calls slavery "the great National evil" and states 
that "We therefore, determined at last to raise up all 
our influence in order to hasten to the utmost in our 
power the universal extirpation of this crying sin." 11 

From 1800 to 1860 the various changes made in the 
Discipline with reference to slavery are as follows: In 
1804 the question as to the extirpation of slavery was 
changed from "What regulations shall be made for the 
extirpation of the crying evil of African slavery?" to 
"What shall be done for the extirpation of the evil of 
slavery?" In this year also slave-selling is allowed to 
Church members, but it was to be under the supervision 
of a committee of the male members of the society, ap- 
pointed by the minister. This Conference further re- 
ceded from the former strong anti-slavery position of 
the Conferences of 1784, 1796, and 1800 by exempting 
all members in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
and Tennessee from all the rules respecting slavery. In 
the Discipline of this year also we find this: "Let your 
preachers from time to time, . . . admonish and ex- 
hort all slaves to render due respect and obedience to 
the commands and interests of their respective mem- 
bers." 12 

The Discipline of 1808 contains only three para- 
graphs relating to slavery : one referring to official mem- 
bers being slave-holders, and another to slave-holding 

10 Matlack, p. 64. n Ibid, p. 65. 

12 Discipline, 1804, pp. 215, 216. 

18 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

preachers, and a new provision allowing the Annual 
Conferences to regulate the traffic in slaves within their 
own territory. The other provisions contained in the 
Discipline of 1804 relating to slavery were left out. 
In 1820 the paragraph allowing Annual Conferences to 
regulate the slave traffic of the members was rescinded. 
In 1824 the section on slavery was amended for the last 
time until I860. 13 A summary of the sections of the 
Discipline of that year (1824) bearing on slavery is as 
follows: (1) The Church is convinced of the great evil 
of slavery, and slave-holders are prohibited from hold- 
ing official positions in the Church, where the State laws 
will admit emancipation. (2) A minister who becomes 
a slave-holder must either cease to be a minister or 
emancipate his slaves. (3) The preachers are to see 
that the slaves are given religious instruction. (4) Col- 
ored preachers and official members are to have the 
same rights as others in the District and Quarterly Con- 
ferences. (5) Annual Conferences are given the privi- 
lege of employing colored preachers. 14 

When the anti-slavery agitation fathered by Garri- 
son began, in the early thirties, 15 it met a considerable 
response in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a 
number of Methodist anti-slavery societies were formed. 
In June, 1835, the New England Methodist ministers 
organized an anti-slavery society, and also in the same 
year another society was organized by the ministers of 
the New Hampshire Conference. During this year one 
of the strong anti-slavery members of the last named 
Conference sent Mr. Garrison's paper, The Liberator, 
free of charge for six months to all ministers of his 
Conference, 16 and Mr. Garrison himself commended the 

13 Matlack, p. 71. 

"Matlack, pp. 71, 72. 

15 The American Anti-Slavery Society was organized in. Philadel- 
phia, December, 1833. "Bise and Fall of the Slave Power in 
America,' ' Wilson, chap, xviii. 

"Matlack, pp. 85-87. 

19 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

courage of the Methodists of Boston for their brave 
stand on the question of slavery. 17 

Early Methodist anti-slavery sentiment seemed to 
be confined, however, largely to New England, while 
many of the most influential men in the Church were 
opposed to abolition. 18 In September, 1835, a pastoral 
letter from Bishops Hedding and Emory was addressed 
to the New England and New Hampshire Conferences, 
in which they state, "We have found no such excitement 
with any of them [Conferences] except yours," and 
they regard the general agitation as a "deep political 
game," in which the ministers ought not to be drawn. 
They further urge the "members and friends every- 
where" to discountenance all ministers from agitating 
the subject "from the pulpit or otherwise." 19 

In the General Conference of 1836, which met at 
Cincinnati, considerable excitement was caused by two 
members of that body, from the New Hampshire Con- 
ference, attending a meeting of the Cincinnati Anti- 
Slavery Society, where each made a short address. A 
resolution was introduced into the Conference condemn- 
ing their action, which passed by 122 yeas to only 
11 nays. Another resolution was passed at the same 
time, condemning "Modern abolitionism, and wholly 
disclaiming any right, wish, or intention to interfere in 
the civil and political relation between master and 
slave as it exists in the slave-holding States of the 
Union." This resolution passed by about the same 
vote as the former — 120 yeas to 14 nays. 20 This vote 
shows how weak was the anti-slavery sentiment in the 
Church at this time. 

In this same year the pastoral letter, published by 
the authority of the General Conference and signed 
by all the bishops, exhorts all "to abstain from all abo- 
lition movements and associations and to refrain from 

""National Sermons," Haven. Introduction, p. vii. 

18 Matlack, pp. 87-89. 10 Matlack, p. 90. 20 Ibid, pp. 93-102. 

20 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

patronizing any of their publications." During the 
next few years following we find Southern Conferences 
passing resolutions declaring slavery a domestic and 
civil institution, and not a proper subject of Church 
interference. In 1837 the Georgia Conference declared 
slavery not a moral wrong, and an institution of which 
the Church has nothing to do. In 1838 the South Caro- 
lina Conference passed similar resolutions. 21 

Between the General Conferences of 1836 and 1840 
considerable trouble was experienced in several of the 
Annual Conferences over the question of abolition. In 
a number of cases ministers were tried for being aboli- 
tionists, and some young men were refused ministerial 
orders because of their abolition sentiment. 22 The 
Philadelphia Conference, for instance, from 1837 for ten 
years asked each candidate for admission into the Con- 
ference, "Are you an abolitionist?" and unless this 
question was answered in the negative they were not 
received. 23 Among the Conferences before whom abo- 
lition ministers were brought for trial were the Pitts- 
burgh, Erie, and New York. 

This harsh treatment of the abolitionists by the 
Church, instead of crushing the movement, tended to 
increase it. A number of anti-slavery papers came into 
existence, edited by Methodist ministers, among them 
being The Wesleyan Journal, published in Hallowell, 
Maine; The American Wesleyan Observer, edited by 
Revs. Orange Scott and J. Hall, of Lowell, Mass.; and 
The Z ion's Watchman, edited by Rev. LaRoy Sunder- 
land and published in New York. This latter paper was 
the most important and influential of the Methodist 
anti-slavery journals. During these years also several 
Methodist anti-slavery conventions were held. Such a 
convention was held in August, 1837, in the Methodist 
Church of Cazenovia, N. Y., and later in the same month 

21 Matlack, p. 104. 22 Ibid, pp. 112-120. 

23 Minutes Philadelphia Conference, 1837-1850. 

21 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

another convention, made up of Methodist laymen, met 
in New York Mills, which adopted very radical abolition 
resolutions, 24 and still another such convention assem- 
bled at Lynn, Mass., in October of that year. In 1838 
two large conventions were held : one on May 2d and 3d 
at Utica, N. Y., and another on November 21st and 22d 
at Lowell, Mass. 25 . 

By 1840 anti-slavery sentiment seemed to have con- 
siderably increased within the Church, especially among 
the laymen. The Annual Conferences just prior to the 
General Conference of 1840 were asked to vote upon 
the proposition, which originated with the New England 
Conference, proposing to change the General Rule on 
slavery so that it should forbid "the buying or selling, 
or holding men, women, or children as slaves, or giving 
them away except on purpose to free them." 26 While 
this Was voted down by large majorities in the Confer- 
ences outside of New England, yet the vote showed some 
increase in abolition sentiment in some of the Northern 
Conferences. Four Conferences adopted memorials ask- 
ing anti-slavery action to be taken by the coming Gen- 
eral Conference, which contained the names of over one 
thousand private members and over five hundred min- 
isters. A memorial from New York City contained 
nearly twelve hundred names. 27 

The continued persecution of abolitionists within the 
Church and the failure of the General Conference of 1840 
to take any advanced anti-slavery action gave rise to the 
secession from the Church of a considerable number of 
dissatisfied persons. In Ohio, New York, and Michigan, 
as early as 1839, a number of small societies withdrew 
from the Church and organized independent congrega- 
tions. On May 31, 1843, a convention of the dissatis- 
fied anti-slavery Methodists was called at Utica, N. Y., 
and there the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of Amer- 

24 Matlaek, p. 125. M Ibid, p. 133. 

25 Ibid, pp. 126, 127. 27 Ibid, pp. 133, 134. 

22 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

ica was organized. 28 Eighteen months after its organi- 
zation the membership of this new anti-slavery Church 
was reported as fifteen thousand. 

From the years 1840 to 1844 the anti-slavery senti- 
ment in the Methodist Episcopal Church greatly in- 
creased. The incident which was the direct cause of 
the increase of this sentiment was the action of a Mary- 
land pro-slavery convention which met in the winter 
of 1841-42. This convention passed resolutions asking 
the Legislature of the State to pass a law which would 
result in either driving the free Negroes from the State 
or reduce them to bondage. This action aroused Metho- 
dists all Over the -North, because many of the free Ne- 
groes of Maryland were members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. 29 

In an editorial of the Christian Advocate and Jour- 
nal, which before had been silent on the question of 
slavery, the editor says, "The questions which we were 
told it was dangerous to discuss are not forced upon us 
by those w|ho conjured us to be silent . . . and with 
the blessing of God, we will not discuss them to the 
heart's content of the slave-holders' convention." 30 
Large Methodist anti-slavery conventions were held, es- 
pecially in New England, protesting against this pro- 
slavery action in Maryland, and there was considerable 
talk of "separation from the South." 31 This discussion 
and agitation was continued in all the Church papers, 
both North and South, and in the various Conferences 
and conventions until the convening of the General Con- 
ference of 1844, when the great anti-slavery crisis was 
reached. 

28 ' < History of the Christian Church, ' ' Hurst, vol. ii, p. 894. 
29 " The Great Secession/' Elliott, pp. 237, 238. 

30 Christian Advocate and Journal, Jan., 1842. The notice of 
this subject in the Christian Advocate created considerable alarm 
in the South, and predictions were made, if it continued to take 
part in the discussion of slavery, the paper would not circulate in 
the South. (Elliott, p. 238.) 

31 Matlack, pp. 151, 152. 

23 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

The General Conference met in New York on May 
1, 1844. The question of slavery came up early in the 
session, in connection with an appeal of a member of 
the Baltimore Conference, who had been suspended from 
his ministerial standing for refusing to manumit cer- 
tain slaves which had come into his possession through 
marriage. After a discussion which covered five days 
the General Conference sustained the action of the Balti- 
more Conference by a vote of 117 to 56. 32 

The great discussion over slavery, however, came up 
in connection with the Report of the Committee on 
Episcopacy on May 21st. Bishop James 0. Andrew, of 
Georgia, had a slave girl left him by an old lady of 
Augusta, Ga., on condition that he should liberate her 
and send her to Liberia, with her consent. But on 
reaching the required age the girl refused to go to 
Liberia, and remained legally the property of Bishop 
Andrew. He also had inherited from his first wife a 
slave boy, which he could not free, and on his second 
marriage he married a lady who had inherited slaves 
from a former husband's estate. 33 

On the report of the Committee on Episcopacy a 
resolution was offered requesting Bishop Andrew to re- 
sign his office as a bishop. After considerable discus- 
sion, the next day a substitute motion for the above 
resolution was offered, stating "that it is the sense of 
this General Conference that he desist from the exer- 
cise of this office so long as this impediment remains." 
The discussion of this substitute motion lasted ten days, 
and finally on June 1st the substitute was carried by 
a vote of 110 yeas to 68 nays. 34 

32 Methodist Church Property Case, pp. 57-59. 

33 Ibid. pp. 61, 62 for Bishop Andrew's letter explaining his 
connection with slavery. Also ' ' Life and Letters of Bishop An- 
drew,' 7 G. G. Smith, chap, ix, pp. 336-385. 

84 Methodist Church Property Case, pp. 63-66. Also Eeport of 
Debates in the General Conference of 1844, pp. 188-191. This 
source gives the vote as 111 to 69. 

24 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

On June 3d a series of resolutions was offered by 
Dr. Capers, of South Carolina, providing for a separa- 
tion of the Church, North and South, and these resolu- 
tions were referred to a special committee of nine, which 
was to report as soon as possible. On June 5th a dec- 
laration of the delegates of the Conferences in the slave- 
holding States, signed by fifty-two names, was pre- 
sented, which declared "that the continued agitation of 
the subject of slavery and abolition in a portion of the 
Church ; the frequent action on that subject in the Gen- 
eral Conference; and especially the extra judicial pro- 
ceedings against Bishop Andrew . . . must produce a 
state of things in the South which renders a continuance 
of the jurisdiction of this General Conference incon- 
sistent with the success of the ministry in the slave- 
holding States." 35 

On June 8th the special committee of nine, to whom 
had been referred all matters relating to the separation 
of the Church, reported in a series of eleven resolutions. 
These resolutions provided for the separation of the 
Church, in the slave-holding States, from the Church in 
the North, "should the Annual Conferences in the slave- 
holding States find it necessary to unite in a distinct 
ecclesiastical connection." 36 The General Conference 
adjourned June 10th. 

On the morning immediately after the adjournment 
the Southern delegates met in New York City and agreed 
to call a convention of the Southern Churches, to meet 
at Louisville, Ky., on the first day of May of the fol- 
lowing year, 1845. These delegates drew up an address 
to the ministers and members in the Southern States 
and Territories, stating in part "that the various action 
of the majority of the General Conference at its recent 
session, on the subject of slavery and abolition, has been 

35 I~bid, p. 68. 

36 Eeport of Debates in the General Conference, 1844, pp. 217- 
219. Also Methodist Church Property Case, pp. 88-90; also Mat- 
lack, pp. 175, 176. 

25 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

such as to render it necessary, in the judgment of those 
addressing you, to call attention to the proscription and 
disability under which the Southern portion of the 
Church must of necessity labour, . . . unless some 
measures are adopted to free the minority of the South 
from the oppressive jurisdiction of the majority in the 
North." This letter was signed by fifty-one Southern 
delegates, representing thirteen Southern Annual Con- 
ferences. 37 

The Southern Conferences all approved of the con- 
vention which had been called to meet at Louisville in 
May, 1845, and each Conference appointed delegates. 
When this convention, representing the Church in the 
South, met, at the appointed time, it was decided by a 
vote of 94 to 3 to separate from the Church, and a new 
Church, to be known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, was then and there organized. 38 

We pause now in the narrative to take a glance at 
the anti-slavery contest in some of the other Churches. 
The contest in the Presbyterian Church more nearly co- 
incided with that in the Methodist. As early as 1787 
the Synod of New York and Pennsylvania recommended 
"in the warmest terms, to all the Churches and families 
under their care, to do everything in their power, con- 
sistent with the civil rights of society, to promote the 
abolition of slavery. 39 The General Assemblies down to 
1818 took similar action. From 1835 to 1837 the sub- 
ject of slavery provoked an exciting discussion in the 
General Assemblies, which ended by laying on the table 
the addresses by the abolitionist members and expelling 
four synods affected by abolition. In 1838 the Church 

87 The documents relating to the formation of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, are collected in the Methodist Property- 
Case, p. 90 and following. 

38 For the action of all the Southern Conferences in regard to 
the division of the Church see "Organization of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South," Bedford, Appendix, pp. 594-628. Also 
Church Property Case, pp. 92-98. 

89 Matlaek, p. 356. 

26 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

split into the Old and New School upon doctrinal ques- 
tions. The New School in 1839 referred the matter of 
slavery to the local presbyteries; in 1840 certain pres- 
byteries, which had excluded slave-holders from their 
pulpits and communion tables, were asked to rescind 
their action; in 1843 the Assembly did "not think it 
for the edification of the Church to take any action on 
the subject." In the General Assemblies of 1846, '49, 
'50, '53, slavery was condemned. In 1857 it was re- 
ported to the General Assembly that in the Presbytery of 
Lexington South, many ministers, ruling elders, and 
members "held slaves from principle and of choice, be- 
lieving it to be, according to the Bible, right." The 
Assembly called upon that presbytery to review and 
rectify their position, stating that "such doctrines and 
practices can not be permanently tolerated in the Pres- 
byterian Church." The Old School Assembly in 1845 
condemned the apostles, for "they did not make the 
holding of slaves a bar to communion, and therefore 
the Church has no authority to do so." In the Assem* 
blies of 1846, '49, '50 slavery was condemned, but from 
1850 to the breaking out of the war the subject of 
slavery was laid on the table. 40 

The Baptist Church, unlike the Methodist and Pres- 
byterian, had no great struggle, as a denomination, over 
the question of slavery, which was due to the fact that 
the Baptist Church had no central legislative body. In 
this denomination, however, a separate Anti-Slave Mis- 
sionary Board was sustained for many years, and the 
Free-Will Baptists refused fellowship to all slave-holders 
as early as 1839. 41 

The Protestant Episcopal Church ignored the slavery 
question in its ecclesiastical assemblies, but there was, 
however, considerable controversy among individuals 

40 "Slavery and Abolition," A. B. Hart, pp. 213, 214. Baird, 
1 ' History of the New School, ' ' pp. 506-558. 

41 Matlack, p. 354. 

27 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

within the Church, and in 1861, at a convention of dele- 
gates from the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Con- 
federate States, held in Montgomery, Ala., definite action 
was taken to separate from the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States. 42 

We return now to the Methodist Church. In the 
report of the Committee on the Division of the Church, 
which had been adopted by the General Conference of 
1844, the first resolve states "that, should the delegates 
from the conferences in the slave-holding States, find it 
necessary to unite in a distinct ecclesiastical connection, 
the following rule shall be observed with regard to the 
northern boundary. . . . All the societies, stations, and 
conferences adhering to the Church in the South, by a 
vote of a majority of the members of said societies, sta- 
tions and conferences, shall remain under the unmolested 
pastoral care of the Southern Church ; and the ministers 
of the M. E. Church shall in no wise attempt to organize 
Churches or societies within the limits of the Church 
South, nor shall they attempt to exercise any pastoral 
oversight therein ; it being understood that the ministry 
of the South reciprocally observe the same rule in re- 
lation to stations, societies and conferences adhering by 
vote of a majority, to the M. E. Church, provided also 
that this rule shall apply only to societies, stations and 
conferences bordering on the line of division, and not to 
interior charges which shall in all cases be left to the 
care of that church within whose territory they are 
situated." 43 

a The Methodist Episcopal Church in the North 
claimed that the Church South had violated their agree- 
ment made in the General Conference of 1844, in that 
they proceeded immediately to organize a separate 
Church without waiting for the Annual Conferences in 
the South to vote upon the division, which action they 

"Zion's Herald, Aug. 21, 1861. 

43 Debates in the General Conference, 1844, pp. 217-219. 

28 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

claimed invalidated the whole plan of separation. Im- 
mediately each Church began to make great efforts to 
retain the border, and there was more or less constant 
conflict between them, along the border, up unto and 
through the Civil War. Each side claimed exclusive 
rights to be there, and each posed as being basely per- 
secuted by the other. The contest between the Churches 
was especially severe in Western Virginia, 44 Missouri, 
and Kentucky. It was not an uncommon thing for a 
Church service conducted by one side of the contro- 
versy to be broken up by a mob representing the other. 
In Wood County, Va., a grand jury for the superior 
court declared that the Western Christian Advocate, a 
paper published by the Methodist Episcopal Church, was 
"an incendiary publication printed with the intent to 
make insurrection within the Commonwealth of Vir- 
ginia," and to read it or even receive it was deemed an 
act of felony, and the person "convicted thereof shall 
be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary of this 
Commonwealth for not less than two years nor more 
than five." 45 

With the beginning of the Kansas struggle the bit- 
terness between the two Churches increased consider- 
ably, especially in Western Missouri. One pastor (Meth- 
odist Episcopal) writing from Platte County in 1855, 
says, "I am still threatened with a coat of tar and 
feathers, but as yet none have undertaken the enter- 
prise." 46 On Sunday, June 24, 1855, a mob of about 
one hundred men broke up a small congregation in 
Platte County and compelled the two preachers in 
charge of the services to sign a statement that they 
would not preach or hold any more meetings in the 
county. 47 In August of the same year another Metho- 

44 ' ' Cleavage between Eastern and "Western Virginia, ' ' Ambler, 
"Am. Hist. Bev.," July 1910, pp. 762-780. 
45 Matlack, pp. 187, 188. 

46 Central Christian Advocate, June 14, 1855. 

47 Central, June 19, 1855. 

29 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

dist preacher in Western Missouri was taken by a gang 
of eighteen men to the county seat, accused of preaching 
abolition doctrines and circulating abolition literature, 
and after a public meeting in the courthouse he was 
given seven days to leave the State. 48 

In the spring of 1855 a seminary — the Missouri Con- 
ference Seminary — located at Jackson, Mo., sought to 
obtain a charter from the Legislature. Objection to 
granting the charter was raised on the ground that one 
of the incorporators, a Rev. Mr. Houts, was a commu- 
nicant of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Long and 
bitter debate ensued, in the course of which the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church was denounced as a company of 
abilitionists and free-soilers, and when the vote was 
finally take the charter was refused — 59 to 36. 49 In 
the fall of the same year the Missouri Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church was announced to be held 
in Independence, Jackson County, Mo. On August 13th 
the citizens of the county held a meeting in the court- 
house for the purpose of remonstrating against the hold- 
ing of the Conference in Independence, and passed reso- 
lutions to that effect, in which they state, ' ' the supposed 
anti-slavery sentiment and opinions of the ministers and 
others who will constitute said Conference may lead to 
results and acts to be regretted." 50 This warning was 
evidently taken by the authorities of the Missouri Con- 
ference, for the announcement was made soon after that 
the session of the Conference would be held in St. Louis 
instead of Independence. 51 

One of the most atrocious instances of pro-slavery 
interference with the Methodist Episcopal Church oc- 

48 Ibid, Aug. 9, 1855. 

49 Ibid, March 8, 1855. The Central Christian Advocate is a 
particularly valuable source for the contest in Missouri and Kan- 
sas. It was published in St. Louis and was nearer than any other 
Methodist journal to the scene of the border conflict. 

50 Western Dispatch, Independence, Mo., Aug. 17, 1855, copied 
in the Central, Aug. 30, 1855. 

51 Central, Sept. 29, 1855. 

30 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

curred in Rochester, Andrew County, Mo., in June, 1855. 
A public meeting had been held in the town, in which 
the Methodist Episcopal Church had been declared a 
"nuisance, a stench in the nostrils of our people," and 
stating also that "there can be no good or satisfactory 
reason offered why a Southern community should toler- 
ate the existence of a church in their midst, which de- 
clares that its members can not hold slaves, that the in- 
stitution of slavery is against the spirit of religion." 
The preacher in charge of the Rochester Circuit had 
not listened to the threats of this meeting, and proceeded 
to conduct a protracted meeting, but on going to the 
church with two of the leading laymen of the congre- 
gation he was met by a mob of from eighty-five to one 
hundred men; one of the laymen with him, who was 
over seventy-one years of age, was shot and almost in- 
stantly killed, and the minister was taken, tarred, and 
feathered, and ordered to leave town immediately. 52 

From 1845 to 1860 the Methodist Episcopal Church 
was active in certain districts in Northeastern Texas, 
which territory was included in the Arkansas Confer- 
ence. On March 10, 1859, the Arkansas Conference con- 
vened at Bonham, Fannin County, Tex., presided over 
by Bishop Janes. The next day a public meeting was 
held in the court-house, presided over by the postmaster 
and addressed by some of the most prominent men of 
the county, at which resolutions were adopted stating: 
"Whereas, A secret foe lurks in our midst known as 
the Northern Methodist Church, entertaining sentiments 
antagonistic to the institution of slavery ; and, Whereas, 
The growth of this enemy Would be likely to endanger 
the perpetuity of that institution in Texas; and, 
Whereas, Sentiments opposed to the interests of the 
South have been expressed on our streets by Northern 
Methodist preachers; therefore, Resolved, That the 

52 Copied from the St. Joseph Gazette by the Central, June 26, 
1856. Also ibid, July 10, 1856; Aug. 14, 1856. 

31 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Northern Methodist Church in our midst is a screen be- 
hind which the emissaries of a Northern political party 
hide, known as abolitionists, and is dangerous to our in- 
terests and ought not be tolerated; Resolved (2), That 
the expressed sentiment of Northern Methodist preach- 
ers against slavery is an insult to our people; Resolved 
(3), That these views do not meet the views of the peo- 
ple of Fannin County, and their expression must there- 
fore be stopped; Resolved (4), That a committee be ap- 
pointed to urge the Legislature to pass laws punishing 
the utterance of such sentiments; Resolved (5), That a 
committee be appointed to wait upon the bishop and 
ministers of the Conference and warn them against con- 
tinuing the Conference." The sixth resolution states 
that their motto is, "Peaceably if we can, forcibly if 
we must," and the last resolution declares that they 
band themselves together to suppress abolitionism in 
our midst, and to henceforth J allow no public expression 
of abolition doctrine in the county. On Sunday morning 
the committee of about fifty men went to the church 
where the session of the Conference was being held, and 
crowded into the building just as Bishop Janes had 
read his text to begin his sermon. A Judge Roberts, the 
spokesman of the committee, addressed the bishop and 
told him of the proceedings of the meeting; the reso- 
lutions were then read and the Conference given two 
hours to decide on a course of action. The bishop then 
spoke to them in a kindly conciliatory manner, and on 
their departure proceeded with his sermon. After the 
services a meeting of the ministers was held, and a 
committee of two were appointed to report that they, 
the preachers, would refrain from preaching until they 
had met with the official members of their respective 
charges. 53 

In Kansas Territory a number of "Northern" Meth- 

''Central, April 27, 1859. 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

odist preachers received rough handling at the hands 
of pro-slavery mobs. The Methodist Episcopal Church 
Was far more active in the Territory from the beginning 
than the Church South. The superintendent of the 
Southern work in the Territory reported in 1850 that 
there were "but four preachers besides the superintend- 
ent laboring among the settlers and four laboring among 
the Indians," 54 while in that same year the Methodist 
Episcopal Church reports fourteen preachers besides su- 
perintendents and other helpers, and about one thousand 
members. 55 One preacher writing from Lawrence, in 
July, says, "Our work increases daily; no Church is 
prospering like our own in this soil, and the call for 
preaching is in almost every direction." 56 The pro- 
slavery element in Kansas was very bitter against 
preachers of free-soil opinion and a number of ministers 
were summarily dealt with. One of the most famous 
instances of such treatment was that of the case of Rev. 
Pardee Butler, a preacher from Missouri, who came to 
Atchison in August, 1855, for the purpose of starting 
East — according to the Squatter Sovereign, a pro-slavery 
paper of Atchison — "to get a fresh supply of free- 
settlers from the penitentiaries and pest houses of the 
Northern States." 57 He expressed his opinion rather 
too freely to suit the pro-slavery citizens of Atchison, 
who sent a committee to him to request his signature 
of certain resolutions previously passed by a meeting 
held in the town. On Butler's refusal to sign the reso- 
lutions he was placed on a raft of two logs with his 
baggage and sent adrift on the Missouri River, with 
warnings never to return. The next spring, however, 
he returned to Atchison on business, and again he was 
seized by a mob, which threatened to shoot him, but 

54 Ibid, April 26, 1855. 

55 Central, July 26, 1855. 

56 Ibid, July 19, 1855. 

57 "Geary and Kansas/' John H. Gihon, p. 48. 

3 33 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

finally tarred and feathered him instead, and sent him 
out of town. 58 

From 1844 to 1860 the two wings of the Methodist 
Church grew gradually farther and farther apart, the 
Church in the North becoming more and more em- 
phatic in its denunciation of the institution of slavery, 
while the Church in the South grew more and more 
energetic in its defense. During this period slavery was 
the question par excellence of the pulpits and the Church 
press. Hardly an issue of a Church paper, North or 
South, for twenty years before the war but had some- 
thing to say upon the burning question. 

The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church which met in Pittsburgh in 1848 refused to re- 
ceive fraternal greetings from the Church South. In 
the debate over the question one delegate said, "The 
sympathies of this General Conference are entirely on 
the side of liberty . . . and that the prevailing sym- 
pathies of the Church South are on the side of slavery. ' ' 
In reporting this action in Z ion's Herald, the editor 
stated that this "important act is not only a declination 
of fraternal relations, but its whole import is a verdict 
against slavery. . . . Let it go forth that the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church rejects all alliance with pro- 
slavery ecclesiastical bodies." 59 

Before the General Conference of 1856 there was 
considerable agitation within the Church over the ques- 
tion of the relation of the Church to slavery. The ultra- 
anti-slavery sentiment favored the withdrawal entirely 
from slave territory, or else passing a rule entirely pro- 
hibiting slave-holding by Church members. This course 
was opposed vigorously by the majority of Methodists 
living in or adjacent to slave territory. During the 

5S IM&, pp. 75, 76. This whole story will also be found in Re- 
port of Comm., 1st and 2d Sess., 34th Cong., vol. 2, 1855-56, pp. 
260-264. From the Report of the House Investigating Cornm. sent 
to Kansas in 1856. 

69 Matlack, pp. 190, 191. 

34 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

years 1855 and part of 1856 there was a bitter contro- 
versy between the Northwestern Christian Advocate, of 
Chicago, and the Central Christian Advocate, of St. 
Louis, over this question, and most of the other Church 
papers in the country took sides with either one or the 
other on the question at issue. The Northwestern and 
the Northern Christian Advocate, with Zion's Herald, 
favored a change in the rule and an entire withdrawal 
of the Church from all connection with slavery, while 
the Central, Western, Pittsburgh, and New York Chris- 
tian Advocates favored no change in the rule and a con- 
tinuance of the Church in slave territory. All the 
Church periodicals, however, claimed to hold slavery a 
great evil and to seek its extirpation. The editor of 
the Northwestern Advocate warns the brethren in the 
border Conferences that they "are on the road to the 
Church South by a philosophical necessity." 60 To this 
the Central replies by giving the reasons why the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church will not fall into the same errors 
on slavery as did the Church South. He states: "(1) 
We^went to a tried people — people who opposed the 
Church South at all hazards and with danger to them- 
selves. (2) We go with the experience of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church constantly before our eyes and with 
her fate as a warning. (3) The guards against being 
betrayed into the same errors are much greater now 
than they were in the early history of the Church. We 
went then as we go now, to be sure, avowedly anti- 
slavery, but hailed as abolitionists by our affectionate 
brethren. (4) The radical difference in the spirit of 
the two Churches will forever prevent any affiliation. 
(5) We have our brethren in the Free States to exer- 
cise a guardian watch care over the Church in slave 
territory." 61 In a later issue the editor of the Central 
says, regarding the attitude of his journal toward 

60 Central, July 26, 1855. 
81 Central, Aug. 2, 1855. 

35 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

slavery, "We are perfectly willing to compare notes 
with the Northwestern, even on the subject of conserva- 
tive, continued, and practical opposition to slavery." 62 
The editor of the Western Christian Advocate says, "It 
is all moonshine to talk about preachers of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church having no business in Slave 
States. ... It is nonsense to talk of excluding all 
slave-holders from the Methodist Episcopal Church." 63 
Concerning the Methodist Episcopal Church in West- 
ern Virginia in 1855, a correspondent to the Central 
Christian Advocate writes: "Without relinquishing 
in any degree the position the Methodist Episcopal 
Church has occupied on the subject of slavery, this Con- 
ference makes progress in the face of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, which is pro-slavery. Thus 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia is a 
living protest against the evils of slavery, and uses their 
authority, by way of discipline, to ameliorate the con- 
dition of the slave and to prepare, as far as she may, 
both master and slave for emancipation." 64 In a long 
article in a Church periodical in 1855 on "Slavery and 
the Church," Dr. J. P. Durbin, then secretary of the 
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
sums up the conservative opinion in regard to slavery as 
follows: . . . "The relation of the Church to slavery 
. . . and how it should be treated by the Church, con- 
stitute a most momentous question. To answer the ques- 
tion the New Testament must be the guide. (1) There 
is not a passage in the New Testament expressive of ap- 
probation of slavery. (2) The early Church indicated 
her disapproval of slavery indirectly. (3) The early 
Church laid down general principles which, when car- 
ried out, would necessarily work its abolition. (4) Find- 
ing slavery in existence, the early Church laid down 

02 Ibid, Aug. 16, 1855. 

03 Western Christian Advocate, July 26, 1855. 
64 Central, June 28, 1855. 

36 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

certain rules for master and slave." Then he proceeds 
to point out the similarity of conditions in regard to 
slavery, between the apostolic and the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Both Churches found slavery in exist- 
ence; in both master and slave were converted and 
brought into the Church; in neither Church was the 
relation of master and slave a bar to Church member- 
ship ; both claimed the right to enforce upon master and 
slave their respective duties ; and last, both the apostolic 
and the Methodist Episcopal Churches clearly main- 
tained their disapproval of slavery as a condition of 
society and of the individual, and sought its extinction. 
Then he asks the question, "What more can the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church do to bring about extirpation of 
slavery ? ' ' This he answers by stating that, ' ' instead of 
separating all slave-holders from the Church, let her 
retain her authority over them and enforce the duties 
which grow out of the relation of a Christian master to 
his dependent slave, and out of the relation of both to 
the Church." And then he advocates the rigid en- 
forcement of Church discipline, compelling masters to 
recognize marriage between slaves, and the relation of 
parents and children, and should regulate the sale and 
purchase of slaves, which provisions, he claims, would 
tend to limit the power of the master over the slave, and 
by forbidding the separation of parents and children the 
internal slave-trade would be broken up, and this would 
finally lead to the breaking up of slavery itself. 65 

The bishops in their Episcopal Address to the Gen- 
eral Conference of 1856 have this to say regarding the 
relation of the Church to slavery: "We have six Annual 
Conferences which are wholly or in part in slave terri- 
tory, having a membership of 143,000 (white) and 
28,000 colored. ... In our judgment the existence of 
these Conferences and Churches under their present cir- 
cumstances does not tend to extend or perpetuate slav- 

65 Central, Aug. 30, 1855. 

37 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

ery. They are known to be organized under a discipline 
which characterizes slavery as a great evil, which makes 
the slave-holder ineligible to any official station in the 
Church where the laws of the State in which he lives 
will admit of emancipation . . . which prohibits the 
buying and selling of man, woman or children with an 
intention to enslave them, and enquires what shall be 
done for the extirpation of the evil of slavery." 66 

In the General Conference of 1856 the committee re- 
ported favorably to change the General Rule on Slav- 
ery, making it more denunciatory, but after a long de- 
bate, covering many days, a vote on the change was 
prevented. If the rule on slavery had been changed at 
this time, shutting out slave-holders from Church mem- 
bership, the Church in the Border States would with- 
out doubt have suffered a considerable loss, and would 
perhaps have resulted in practically driving the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church from slave territory. Previous 
to the General Conference of 1856 there was considerable 
talk of a second division of the Church over the slavery 
question, especially on the part of the editor of the 
Northwestern Christian Advocate and others who took 
his view of the situation — the extreme anti-slavery wing, 
or, as they were then called, the "New Rulists." 67 

Between the General Conferences of 1856 and 1860 
the agitation over the adoption of the "New Rules" or 
slavery continued, and by the time the next General 
Conference convened, in May, 1860, its passage was 
practically assured. All the important Church papers 

66 General Conference Journal, 1856, pp. 199, 200. 

67 In an article in the Am. Hist. Bev., July, 1911, on "The 
Fight for the Northwest," by W. E. Dodd, the statement is made 
that the Conferences along the Ohio and Mississippi, and even 
those farther north, were weakening in their anti-slavery attitude 
during the years 1856-60. There was some difference of opinion 
as to how the Church should deal with slavery, and the border Con- 
ferences were naturally more conservative than others farther 
north, but I find no traces of weakening, nor going over to the 
South, but rather a tendency to become more strongly anti-slavery. 

38 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

had expressed themselves as favorable to its passage ex- 
cept the Advocate and Journal, of New York. The 
editor of the Western Christian Advocate expresses his 
position in these definite terms: " (1) The General Rule 
should be so amended as to condemn, . . . slave-hold- 
ing, as explicitly as it condemns slave-buying and sell- 
ing. (2) That the chapter should be amended in con- 
formity with the amended General Rules so as to con- 
demn slave-holding in the membership without regard 
to the distinction of official and unofficial members. " os 

When the General Conference convened in Buffalo, 
N. Y., May 1, 1860, the Committee on Slavery was well- 
nigh swamped with memorials. There were 811 peti- 
tions, signed by 45,857 names, asking for a change of 
the rule in slavery, and 137, with 3,999 signers, asking 
that no change be made. 69 The largest number of me- 
morials advocating no change came from the New York 
East and New York Conferences, and over half the sign- 
ers were from territory contiguous to New York, which 
shows the influence of the New York Christian Advocate. 
This General Conference expressed its disapproval of 
the conservative position of the Neiv York Christian Ad- 
vocate by electing a new editor, Dr. Abel Stevens; the 
retiring editor receiving only 73 votes, while his oppo- 
nent, Dr. Edward Thomson, received 142. 70 A new 
editor was also elected for the Central Christian Advo- 
cate, at St. Louis. Charles Elliott, the new editor, re- 
ceiving 131 votes, the retiring editor 83. 71 The reason 
for this change being the same as in the case of the New 
York Advocate. 

This General Conference, after another long discus- 
sion, passed what was known as the New Chapter on 
Slavery, which read: "We believe that the buying, sell- 

68 Western Christian Advocate, Jan. 5, 1859. 

69 General Conference Journal, 1860, pp. 425-426. For a list 
of petitions and memorials presented to the General Conference of 
1860 see Appendix F. 

10 Ibid, p. 239. n Ibid, p. 242. 

39 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

ing, or holding of human beings as chattels is contrary 
to the laws of God and nature; inconsistent with the 
Golden Rule, and with that rule in our Discipline which 
requires all who desire to remain among us to do no 
harm, and to avoid evil of every kind. We therefore 
affectionately admonish all our preachers and people to 
keep themselves pure from this great evil, and to seek 
its extirpation by all lawful and Christian means. ' ' 72 

After the passage of the New Chapter there was con- 
siderable protest from along the border, especially from 
the Baltimore, East Baltimore, and Western Virginia 
Conferences. 73 This resulted in the withdrawal of a 
number of ministers and members from the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, many of whom went over to the 
Church South. There were also, at this time, a few 
independent congregations organized in Baltimore, made 
up of those who objected to this new rule on slavery, 
which went under the name of the Central Methodist 
Church. 74 

The slavery struggle within the Church was very 
naturally influenced by the larger struggle going on in 
the Nation and by the various questions relating to 
slavery and slavery extension, which came before Con- 
gress between the years 1850 and 1860. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church, through its periodicals especially, 
almost invariably took a strong anti-slavery position. 
While the great debate over Mr. Clay's Compromise 
measure of 1850 was in progress in Congress, the Church 
press "almost universally" throughout the North took 
a stand against the measure, 75 and after Mr. Webster 
had delivered his famous seventh-of-March speech the 
Church press vented their disapproval upon him. 76 As 

72 General Conference Journal, 1860. Also McPherson, pp. 494- 
496. 

73 See chap, ii for conditions in the border Conferences. 

74 McPherson, pp. 525-533. 

73 Zion's Herald, March 27, 1850; also Western, April 3, 1850. 
70 ''History of the United States," Rhodes, vol. i, p. 155. 

40 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

an example of the editorials in the Methodist journals 
upon this question I quote one from the Western Chris- 
tian Advocate, from the able pen of Matthew Simpson, 
then editor of that journal : 77 "What do they (the South- 
ern statesmen) expect to accomplish by the present 
threats (of secession) ? We answer, (1) They expect 
to procure the passage of a bill containing strong and 
offensive provisions in reference to the recapture of 
fugitive slaves. (2) They expect to procure the passage 
of territorial bills, without any prohibition of slavery. 

"These are the measures for which they contend, 
and to accomplish their ends they must frighten the 
North, or at least they must make such a demonstration 
as shall enable the Northern men with Southern prin- 
ciples to say that they were frightened into a compro- 
mise. A compromise of what? Either California has 
a right to prohibit slavery or she has not. If she has, 
why purchase that right by a compromise, on any other 
question? If she has not that right, let her be re- 
jected, and let it be published to the world that, in 
our glorious Union, men have no right to be free unless 
they buy it by a compromise. . . . 

"A fugitive slave bill with odious features and a Ter- 
ritorial bill without the Proviso (Wilmot) we expect will 
be passed. Already several Northern leaders, among 
whom Mr. Webster ranks conspicuous, have gone over to 
the South and under the fair name of Compromise and 
of settling all questions, they will probably procure a 
majority to go with them. What will be the result ? Will 
a settlement be effected ? Will the agitation cease ? We 
answer, no." The working of the fugitive slave law, he 
goes on to state, will keep the whole country in a state of 
excitement. . . . "Averse as we are to all inter-med- 
dling, by the religious press in party politics, yet we 
would consider ourselves irreverent to our trust, did we 
not utter our voice on this question." 

77 Western, April 3, 1850. 

41 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

In the great debate in Congress over the Compromise 
Bill of 1850, the split in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
received some attention. Calhoun, speaking of the cords 
binding the States together, said, ' ' Some are spiritual or 
ecclesiastical, some political, others social. . . . The 
strongest of those of a spiritual and ecclesiastical nature 
consisted in the unity of the great religious denomina- 
tions, all of which originally embraced the whole Union. ' ' 
Here follows comments as to the organization of the 
Churches in the United States. "All this combined," 
he continues, "contributed greatly to strengthen the 
bonds of the Union." The strong ties which held each 
denomination together formed a strong cord to hold the 
whole Union together, but as powerful as they were, 
they have not been able to resist the explosive effects of 
slavery agitation. 

"The first of these cords which snapped, under its 
explosive force, was that of the powerful Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. The numerous and strong ties which held 
it together are all broke and its unity gone. They now 
form separate Churches, and instead of that feeling of 
attachment and devotion to the interests of the whole 
Church which was formerly felt — they are now arrayed 
into two hostile bodies, engaged in litigation about what 
was formerly their common property. 

"The next cord that snapped was that of the Baptists, 
one of the largest and most respectable of the denomi- 
nations. That of the Presbyterians is not entirely 
snapped, but some of its strands have given away. That 
of the Episcopal Church is the only one of the four great 
Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and 
entire." 78 

Webster, in his famous seventh-of-March speech, re- 
plying to Calhoun, also made reference to the schism in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, in these words: "The 
honorable Senator from South Carolina the other day 

Ts Congressional Globe, vol. xxi, part 1, p. 453. 

42 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

alluded to the separation of that great religious commu- 
nity, the Methodist Episcopal Church. That separation 
was brought about by differences of opinion upon this 
particular subject of slavery. I felt great concern as that 
dispute went on, about the result. I was in hopes that 
the differences of opinion might be adjusted because I 
looked on that religious denomination as one of the great 
props of religion and morals throughout the whole coun- 
try, from Maine to Georgia, and westward to our utmost 
western boundary. The result was against my wishes 
and against my hopes. I have read all their proceedings 
and all their arguments, but I have never yet been able 
to come to the conclusion that there was any real ground 
for that separation," but it was brought about by lack 
of "candor and charity." 79 

That the snapping of the ecclesiastical cords binding 
the North and South had considerable influence in mak- 
ing the final breach between the sections, there can be 
no doubt. Indeed, the claim has been made by various 
Church writers that the split in the Churches was not 
only the first break between the sections, but was the 
chief cause of the final break. 80 

The question might be fairly raised here, Why were 
the Church ties the first to give way ? I see two reasons 
why this was true. First, because the governing bodies 
of the Churches at that time were composed entirely of 
ministers, and they of all classes of men were the least 
likely to compromise, especially on questions which they 
considered moral; and second, because the Church gen- 
erally in the North had come to look upon slavery as a 
great sin, and they looked at the question almost solely 
from that standpoint, thus compelling them to take an 
uncompromising position. 

The Churches and Church people throughout the 
North were also very much aroused by the introduction 

79 "Webster's Works," vol. v, p. 331. 

m ' < The Church and the Eebellion, ' ' Stanton. 

43 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

in Congress by Douglas of the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill" 
and its threatened repeal of the Compromise measures 
of 1820 and 1850. "Perhaps no measure before Con- 
gress ever excited more thoroughly the moral and reli- 
gious sentiments of the nation." 81 Mr. Everett pre- 
sented to Congress a memorial protesting against the 
bill, signed by over three thousand New England clergy- 
men of various religious denominations, and the reli- 
gious press of the country gave large space to the dis- 
cussion of the measure. The editor of the leading Meth- 
odist journal stated in a long editorial, "To admit or 
to tolerate slavery in the Territories, . . . justifies the 
reproaches of the civilized world upon the people of the 
United States," 82 and another Methodist journal states 
editorially: "We see the religious papers in the North 
in general declare against the bill, on the general prin- 
ciples of morality and good faith. We trust every citi- 
zen who loves his country will use his influence against 
the bill." 83 The editor of Zion's Herald, of Boston, in 
the issue of March 8, 1854, says, concerning the passage 
of the bill by the Senators: "We feel sick at heart as we 
sit down to record the shameful fact that the United 
States Senate has passed the Nebraska Bill by a vote 
of 37 yeas to 15 nays. This is a treacherous deed, dis- 
graceful alike to the Senate and the Nation. ... It 
has disgraced the South in the eyes of the whole world; 
. . . they have proved themselves to be false to their 
word, covenant breakers, unworthy of the respect of 
honest men, deserving only of contempt." 84 . . . 

This entrance of ministers and the Church press 
throughout the North into the political arena aroused 
the criticism of those favoring the bill, both in and out 
of Congress. Mr. Douglas, on the floor of Congress, 
speaking of the memorial of the New England clergy- 

81 Wilson, * ' Eise and Fall of the Slave Power, ' ' vol. ii, p. 393. 

82 Christian Advocate, March 2, 1854. 

83 Western, March 1, 1851. S4 Zion 's Herald, March 8, 1854. 

44 



Status at the Opening of the War. 

men: "It is presented," he said, "by a denomination 
of men calling themselves preachers of the gospel, who 
come forward with an atrocious falsehood and an atro- 
cious calumny against the Senate, desecrated the pulpit, 
and prostituted the sacred desk to the miserable and cor- 
rupting influence of party politics." "I doubt," he 
said, again, ' ' whether there is a body of men in America 
who combine so much profound ignorance on the ques- 
tion upon which they attempt to enlighten the Senate 
as this same body of preachers." 85 The Nashville and 
Louisville Christian Advocate, the chief journal of the 
Church South, criticises the editor of the Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal for his editorials on the subject, and 
states: "We most sincerely wish that he and all the re- 
ligious editors in this land would attend to their ap- 
propriate work, and leave great National questions and 
State politics to the people as citizens. . . . Better 
preach repentance and faith and holiness than to med- 
dle with the organizations of States and Territories." 80 
While the editor of another journal of the Methodist 
Church South urges the "Southern Methodist preach- 
ers, as such," to "stick to their work of great moral 
reform and allow the people who are competent to at- 
tend to the affairs of the Nation and the State." 87 

The status of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the 
opening of the war may be summed up as follows: 
(1) It had become by this time practically unanimous 
in its opposition to slavery; the only exception was 
along the border, where a few slave-holders were still 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
great contest over the question of slavery was practically 
settled in the Methodist Church before the final struggle 
in the Nation began. (2) The great majority of the 

85 Wilson, vol. ii, p. 393. 

86 Nashville and Louisville Christian Advocate, quoted in Chris- 
tian Adv., April 6, 1854. 

87 Holston Christian Advocate, quoted in Christian Advocate as 
above. 

45 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church was in 
the Free States, and a very large majority of them 
were ready to identify themselves with any political 
movement which might rid the Nation of the institution 
of slavery, which they regarded as a sin, and which 
they had almost completely driven from the Church. 
(3) The membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at the opening of the war, by States, was as follows: 88 

S8 Methodist Almanac, 1862, p. 24. These returns were taken 
from the Minutes of the Conferences for 1861 and 1862. This is 
the only place where I found the membership given by States. 

Maine 24,267 

New Hampshire 11,757 

Vermont 15,442 

Massachusetts 30,737 

Connecticut 18,849 

Ehode Island 3,067 

New York 164,146 

Pennsylvania 107,368 

Delaware 10,838 

Maryland 56,220 

District of Columbia 3,956 

Virginia 41,872 

Ohio 138,650 

Kentucky . . 3,405 

Indiana 92,884 

Illinois 91,811 

Michigan 33,137 

Wisconsin 23,570 

Minnesota 5,895 

Iowa 39,646 

Missouri 7,738 

Kansas 4,357 

Nebraska 1,542 

Colorado 391 

California 4,252 

Oregon 2,619 

Washington 242 

Total 984,933 



46 



CHAPTER II. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church on the 
Border. 

In this chapter we will discuss the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in its relation to the Civil War in those 
States commonly known in war times as the Border 
States; namely, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, 
and Missouri. In 1861 there were six Conferences of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church wholly or partly within 
these States: the Baltimore, East Baltimore, Philadel- 
phia, Western Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, with a 
total membership of 149, 840. 1 

The "New Rule" on slavery, passed by the General 
Conference of 1860, meeting at Buffalo, which declared 
"the buying, selling or holding of human beings as 
chattels" to be "contrary to the laws of God," and call- 
ing upon the preachers and people to keep themselves 
pure from this great evil," had aroused considerable 
opposition in the Border Conferences, especially in 
Maryland. 2 So strong was this opposition in the Balti- 
more Conference that in its session in 1861 resolutions 
were drawn up declaring the Baltimore Conference 
"separate and independent" of the General Conference, 
and stating that they would not reunite with the rest of 

1 Membership of Border Conferences from the General Minutes, 
1861, pp. 11, 17, 21, 24, 26. 

Philadelphia (in slave territory) 35,293 

Baltimore 43,581 

East Baltimore 39,519 

Western Virginia 21,792 

Kentucky 3,405 

Missouri and Arkansas 6,245 

2 McPherson, pp. 494, 495. 

47 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

the Church until (1) the New Rule had been abrogated, 

(2) the subject of slavery had been transferred to the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the Annual Conferences, and 

(3) a fair proportion of periodicals had been placed un- 
der the charge and direction of the slave-holding Con- 
ferences. Bishop Scott, the presiding officer, had re- 
fused to put the question on the adoption of the reso- 
lutions, declaring such action "a violation of the order 
and discipline" of the Church, but a majority of the 
Conference were in favor of such action. 3 

The East Baltimore Conference at its session in 1861 
adopted resolutions calling for the repeal of the new 
chapter, declaring that there could be no administration 
under it, and asking the concurrence of all the Annual 
Conferences in a proposition which should give each 
Conference full power over slavery within its bounds. 
The only Conference to concur in this action was the 
Philadelphia, which did so by a vote of 174 to 35. 4 
The Western Virginia and Kentucky Conferences, 
though not concurring with the action of the General 
Conference of 1860 on the subject of slavery, were not 
inclined to reopen the question. 5 

The Missouri Conference in a series of resolutions 
also refused to concur in the resolutions sent from the 
East Baltimore Conference, stating that While they 
deeply sympathized with the other Border Conferences 
on the question of slavery, yet they were unwilling 
to renew the controversy; and as the "New Chapter" 
was only declarative and advisory, they had no griev- 
ances to be redressed. 6 

The sessions of the Border Conferences in 1861 were 
all held in March, just after the inauguration of Presi- 

8 Annual Cyclopoedia, 1862, pp. 580, 581; also McPkerson, 
p. 496. 

4 Matlack, pp. 321, 322. 

5 McPherson, p. 496. For Western Virginia 's resolutions, La- 
dies' Repository, May, 1861, p. 320. 

8 McPherson, p. 496. 

48 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

dent Lincoln, and all of them except the Baltimore 
passed resolutions expressive of loyalty to the National 
Government and the new administration. This was sig- 
nificant, as it was still undecided whether or not Mary- 
land, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri would pass se- 
cession ordinances. 

Maryland was fortunate in having an executive in 
Governor Hicks — who, by the way, was a communicant 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church — who was thoroughly 
loyal to the Union, and it was largely through his efforts 
in refusing to call a special session of the Legislature 
that Maryland was saved to the Union. After the ex- 
citement which followed the fall of Ft. Sumter and 
the attack on the Sixth Massachusetts in the streets of 
Baltimore, Union sentiment in Maryland rapidly in- 
creased, and by the middle of May, Maryland was 
strongly on the side of the Union. 7 

At the beginning of the war the Baltimore Confer- 
ence contained a large number of disloyal members, 
most of whom came from Northern Virginia, but during 
the year practically all of this element withdrew and 
joined the Church South. At the session of that Con- 
ference in 1862 sixty-six ministers were reported as 
withdrawn, and the membership, which was 43,581 in 
1861, was given as 18,679 in 1862. 8 Later several other 
ministers, sympathizing with their Virginia brethren, 
withdrew from the Conference and organized three in- 
dependent Methodist Churches in Baltimore. These con- 
gregations were afterwards suspected of disloyalty; one 
of the ministers, a Rev. Mr. Dashiell, having removed a 
United States flag from a school which he conducted, 
causing considerable agitation and resulting in military 
interference. 9 After the withdrawal of these pro-slavery 
members the Baltimore Conference was overwhelmingly 

7 Bhodes, vol. iii, pp. 388-390. McPherson, pp. 8-10. 

8 Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1862, p. 10. 

9 For full account of the Church trouble in Baltimore see Mc- 
Pherson, pp. 524-532. 

49 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

loyal. At its session in 1862 resolutions were adopted 
expressing abhorrence of the rebellion and approving 
and indorsing "the present and patriotic administration 
of the Federal Government." The third resolve is of 
special interest, stating, "That in our patriotic efforts 
in the past or present to sustain the Government . . . 
we are not justly liable to the charge of political teach- 
ing, and in the inculcation of loyal principles and senti- 
ments we recognize the pulpit and the press as legiti- 
mate instrumentalities." 10 A number of the ministers 
of the Baltimore Conference, while loyal to the Union, 
were opposed to abolition, especially in the early years 
of the war. A Rev. Mr. Bull, an ex-chaplain in the 
Union army, stated on the floor of the Conference at 
its session in the spring of 1863 that he hated abolition- 
ism as he hated hell, and considered it the worst heresy 
out of hell. 11 Concerning the session of 1863, a certain 
member of the Conference stated that fully two-thirds 
and perhaps more of the members were thoroughly loyal 
to the Union. 12 

At the session of the Conference in the spring of 
1864 strong and loyal resolutions were adopted. The 
second resolve stated "that we will not receive into the 
Conference or elect to ministerial orders . . . any man 
of known disloyalty." 13 By this time also there was 
evidence that the hostile attitude of some of the mem- 
bers toward abolition was changing, for the third resolve 
stated "that the time is coming when the Baltimore 
Conference will no longer be embarrassed in maintain- 
ing that well-known principle of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church upon this subject (slavery)." 

The East Baltimore Conference lost practically no 
members by withdrawal, on account of disloyalty or 
pro-slavery sentiment, and the resolutions on the state 

10 Christian Advocate, March 13, 1862. 

"Ibid, April 16, 1863. "Ibid, April 30, 1863. 

13 Ibid, March 17, 1864. 

50 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

of the country passed by this Conference at its various 
sessions during the war are invariably loyal. 14 

The whole Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland 
was generally considered most loyal. A correspondent 
of the Cincinnati Commercial, writing from Baltimore, 
says: "The principal secessionists of the city are the 
lawyers, the aristocracy, and a majority of the plug- 
uglies. The Methodists and the mechanics are almost 
to a man for the Union. Considering the fact that the 
Methodists have over forty Churches, and that they 
outnumber nearly all the other Protestant Churches com- 
bined, the fact is a significant one." 15 

One of the Maryland Methodist preachers, writing to 
one of the Church papers from within the State, says, 
"My lot is cast among people who believe that a firm and 
loyal adherence to our country in these times of trouble 
is obedience to God." Another writer states that, "as 
a whole, the Methodist Church of Baltimore is eminently 
loyal. Its ministers, with a few exceptions, both in 
the pulpit and out of it, throw the whole weight of 
their influence in favor of the Government." 16 Still 
another enthusiastic writer goes so far as to claim that 
Maryland owes her safety to Methodism more than to 
any other element. To prove this statement, he declares 
that Methodism, being the most numerous denomination 
in the State, may almost be said to be the ruling element 
in the State, and that Maryland Methodism has been 
thoroughly loyal and anti-slavery. As additional proof 
he cites the fact that Governor Hicks, whose heroic 
firmness has given him a National reputation, is a Meth- 
odist, and also that the city of Baltimore elected a Meth- 
odist council, and the council, in reorganizing the police 
force, put two Methodists at its head. 17 

™ Western, March 12, 1862; ibid, March 25, 1863; Christian 
Advocate, March 17, 1864. 

15 The Cincinnati Commercial quoted in Christian Advocate. 

16 Christian Advocate, Jan. 2, 1862. 

17 Ibid, Aug., 1864. 

51 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

As has already been stated, the Philadelphia Con- 
ference at its session in March, 1861, passed resolutions 
concurring with the action of the East Baltimore Con- 
ference, in calling for the repeal of the "New Chapter" 
on slavery, but at every subsequent session during the 
war such action was taken as to render the loyalty of 
that body unmistakable. At its next session (1862), 
held in Philadelphia, just previous to the commence- 
ment of the proceedings, a large flag with the motto 
"God and our Country" inscribed upon it was un- 
furled, while the members cheered. 18 At this session 
also a long series of patriotic resolutions were passed, 
declaring the rebellion treason, and stating that the army 
and navy have their deepest sympathy and prayers, and 
pledging themselves to use their influence to encourage 
and assist them in saving the Union. 19 At this session 
also the Conference directed that the candidates for ad- 
mission into the Conference be required to answer the 
question, "Are you in favor of sustaining the Union, 
the Government, and the Constitution of the United 
States against the present Rebellion?" 20 And every 
member of the Conference was required to vote on the 
resolutions affirming loyalty, and even those absent when 
the vote was taken were required to record their vote 
some time during the session. 21 

In a series of resolutions adopted at the session of 
1864 occurs this interesting one: "Resolved, That, for- 
bearing as we desire to be toward all ministers who have 
fallen in the error either of pro-slaveryism or disloyalty, 
we record it as our solemn judgment that no such man 
ought to be a religious teacher in our Church, and if 
there be any such, we do hereby request him to withdraw 
from among us." 22 This resolution was adopted, with 
only three dissenting votes. At this same session an- 

1S Ibid, March 27, 1862. 

19 Minutes Philadelphia Conference, 1862, pp. 45, 46. 

-° Ibid, p. 7. "Ibid, p. 6, 8. a Ibid, 1864, p. 8. 

52 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

other series of patriotic resolutions were adopted, con- 
taining eight long resolves which leave no doubt as to 
the loyalty of the preachers of the Philadelphia Confer- 
ence. Also at the session of 1864 the resolution con- 
curring in the protest of the East Baltimore Conference 
on the "new chapter" passed in 1861 was repealed. 

Among the resolutions adopted at the session in 
March, 1865, just a few days before the surrender of 
Appomattox, is one indorsing the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment, and another congratulating Maryland on the adop- 
tion of her new constitution and in the concurrence of 
her Legislature in the Thirteenth Amendment, showing 
that the border Methodists had changed ground com- 
pletely on the slavery question and by the close of the 
war welcomed emancipation. 23 

We turn now to a consideration of the situation in 
the States of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. 
The condition of Methodism in these Border States was 
somewhat different than in Maryland, in that the Meth- 
odist Church South was also occupying the Territory, 
and in two of the States, Kentucky and Missouri, were 
very much stronger in membership than the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. On the other hand the Church South 
reported no members in Maryland in 1861 whatever. 

In 1861 the white membership of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, in these three Border States was as 
follows: Western Virginia, 10,898; Kentucky, 41,043, 
and Missouri, 40,593 f 4 while the membership of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in these same States in the 
same year was: Western Virginia, 21,792; Kentucky, 
3,405, and Missouri, 6,245. 25 This situation naturally 
led to a very complicated state of affairs in these three 
States. 

The people of Western Virginia had very little sym~ 

23 Ibid, 1865, pp. 49, 50. 

24 Methodist Almanac, 1861, p. 26. 

25 General Minutes, 1861, pp. 17, 21, 24. 

53 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

pathy with the people of the eastern section of the State, 
by reason of the fact that they owned few slaves and 
their occupations and characters were different. The 
controversy between Eastern and Western Virginia did 
not originate with the war and did not grow out of 
the question of loyalty or disloyalty, but was of much 
longer standing and grew out of social, industrial, and 
climatic differences. The people of the western section 
of the State had long felt that they had little part in 
the affairs of Virginia, for the western counties had 
never held a senatorship or a governorship. 26 When 
the Methodist Episcopal Church divided, in 1844, over 
slavery, naturally the larger proportion of the Metho- 
dists in Western Virginia remained in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and when the agitation over secession 
began, practically all of them were in favor of remain- 
ing in the Union. When Governor Letcher called a 
State convention to consider secession there were mass- 
meetings held in the western counties against it, arici 
in the convention twenty-nine Western Virginia repre- 
sentatives voted against secession, and only seven for it. 

TEe* attempt to carry out the Ordinance of Secession 
in Western Virginia met with resistance, and a move- 
ment was set on foot early in 1861 to form a govern- 
ment for the western counties. A formal convention of 
delegates from forty western counties met June 11, 1861, 
at Wheeling. Each delegate took an oath to support 
the Constitution of the United States, and a declaration 
of independence was signed by all the delegates. In 
July, 1862, Congress passed a bill admitting the State 
of West Virginia into the Union, and on April 20, 1863, 
it was formally declared a part of the Union by the 
President's proclamation. 27 

Since 1856 the Methodist Episcopal Church in West- 

28 Congressional Globe, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., Part iii, pp. 2415- 
2419. The best narrative of the formation of West Virginia is the 
speech of Senator Willey, delivered May 29th, found in the above. 

27 McPherson, pp. 377, 378. 

54 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

ern Virginia had championed the cause of the Union, 
and her ministers had boldly preached against the dis- 
Unionists. "Tell them" (the members of the Methodist 
Church South), said one preacher, "that the Methodist 
Episcopal Church shall exist on slave territory to the 
end of time, and that, as a heaven-appointed instrumen- 
tality, ... we shall aid in preserving the integrity of 
the Union." 28 While another writer says, in 1861, "If 
Western Virginia is saved, she will owe her salvation 
more to Methodism, under God, than to any other 
agency. ' ' 20 • Many of the Methodists in Western Vir- 
ginia in 1861 had refused to take the Baltimore Chris- 
tian Advocate because it was tolerant on secession and 
slavery. One preacher writes that his people on his 
circuit have refused to take the paper, and that he has 
discontinued it himself. 30 Another correspondent of 
the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate in 1862 states that 
all the ministers of the Western Virginia Conference 
are loyal, and that only about one-twentieth of the mem- 
bership show any disloyalty whatever, and he states, 
"Our Church has better prospects in Western Virginia 
than ever before." 31 

It is claimed by many old residents of Northern West 
Virginia that the Methodist Episcopal Church dismem- 
bered Virginia. The entire accuracy of this statement 
may be questioned, but it is significant that the Union 
and the Southern "strength of Western Virginia in 1861 
could have been measured and located by determining 
the membership and location of the various Churches 
of the Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, respectively." 32 

28 "Defence of the M. E. Church," pamphlet, by Eev. Wesley 
Smith, cited in ' ' Cleavage between Eastern and Western Vir- 
ginia, " Ambler, Am. Hist. Eev., July, 1910, p. 770. 

29 " Southwestern Methodism," Elliott, p. 265. 

30 The Methodist, Jan. 12, 1861. 

31 Western Christian Advocate, July 20, 1862. 

32 1 ' Cleavage between Eastern and Western Virginia, ' ' Ambler, 
Am. Hist. Eev., July, 1910, p. 771. 

55 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

We will now consider the condition of affairs in 
Kentucky. At the opening of the war the Church South 
far outnumbered the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
Kentucky, and the feeling in favor of secession was 
strong; but early in 1861 the governor and the Legis- 
lature determined on a neutral course. 33 During the 
course of the struggle, however, neutrality was found 
to be impossible, and Kentucky chose the Union side ; and 
in June nine anti-secession congressmen out of ten were 
elected, the Union majority in the State being 54,700; 
and in August a strong Union Legislature was chosen. 34 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was so weak in 
Kentucky — numbering less than four thousand — that its 
influence was not so strongly felt as elsewhere, though 
wherever it was established it was identified with loyalty 
to the Government of the United States. A chaplain 
writing from Kentucky in 1862 says: "The destiny of 
our Church is blended in a significant manner with the 
destiny of the arms of the Union. . . . Wherever our 
arms subdue the rebellion, there our Church may raise 
her noble standard with every assurance of success." 35 
To give an example of the fanatical loyalty of some 
of the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
Kentucky, I quote the following, as reported in one 
of the Southern Church papers: "To give you the ani- 
mus of the Northern Methodist Church in Kentucky, 
allow me to tell . . . about one Rev. Mr. Black, sta- 
tioned at Newport, opposite Cincinnati. On one Sab- 
bath he had his church ornamented with United States 
flags and brass eagles; his hymns were the 'Star-Span- 
gled Banner,' the 'Red, White, and Blue,' and 'Hail 
Columbia.' He prayed that the Union may be pre- 
served, 'even though blood may come out of the wine- 
press, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a 
thousand and six hundred furlongs.' In the course of 

33 McPhersori, p. 8. S4 Rhodes, vol. iii, p. 392. 

" Western, Feb. 19, 1862. 

56 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

his sermon he said: 'I trust our troops will rally and 
wipe out the disgrace of Manassas, though it cost the 
life of every rebel under arms. Let Davis and Beaure- 
gard be captured, to meet the fate of Hainan. Hang 
them up on Mason's and Dixon's line, that traitors of 
both sections may be warned. Let them hang until vul- 
tures shall eat their rotten flesh from their bones; let 
them hang until the crows shall build their filthy nests 
in their skeletons; let them hang until the rope rots, 
and let their dismembered bones fall so deep into the 
earth that God Almighty can't find them in the day 
of resurrection.' " 3C 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Kentucky 
contained large numbers of strong Union men; in fact, 
loyal sentiment was strongest in the Church South in 
Kentucky than in any other place. In 1862 thirty-six 
preachers from the Louisville Conference (Church 
South) were determined to adhere to the Union, and 
many of them intimated that if the States separated 
they would return to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 37 
A majority of the Kentucky Conference of the Southern 
Church were also strong Union men, and in 1862 a 
number of the ministers in that Conference refused to 
take charges within the rebel lines. At the session of 
the Conference in 1864, resolutions were passed declar- 
ing the Conference practically independent of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, and that the Conference 
was and ever had been loyal to the Government of the 
United States. And in the spring of 1865 eighteen of 
the ministers of this Conference withdrew, and joined 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 38 

36 "Moore's Eebellion Eecord," vol. iv, p. 22 (P). 

37 Annual Cyclopgedia, 1863. 

3S I have drawn this information from the MSS. Journal of Eev. 
Daniel Stevenson, who was a member and secretary of the Ken- 
tucky Conference (Church South), and was one of the eighteen to 
withdraw from the Church South at the close of the war. He was 
also Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Kentucky 
from 1863-1867. The Journal is now in the possession of his son, 
Prof. E. T. Stevenson, Delaware, Ohio. 

57 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

The situation in Missouri during the war is difficult 
to describe. Nowhere were the Churches more bitterly 
opposed to one another, and nowhere were greater 
cruelties and barbarities practiced in the name of the 
Church than in Missouri. The membership of the 
Church South far outnumbered that of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in the State, and most of the minis- 
ters and leading men of the Southern Church favored 
secession. 

The secession party in Missouri was led by Governor 
Jackson, while the Union party found a leader in Fran- 
cis P. Blair, Jr. Regiments were organized on both 
sides, the secessionists under the name ' ' Minutemen, " 
the Unionists were called "Wide-awakes." On May 10, 
1861, Camp Jackson, near St. Louis, was taken by the 
Union regiments, and Union sentiment increased rapidly 
in the State from that time. While this contest was 
going on, the strife between the Churches, North and 
South, became even more bitter and cruel, if possible, 
than it had been formerly. Outside of St. Louis the 
religious services of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
throughout Missouri was suspended, and most of the 
preachers were compelled to leave the State. The min- 
ister at Jefferson City was compelled to flee to St. Louis 
for safety, the minister on the Jackson Circuit was 
driven away, leaving his family there alone for several 
months, the Rev. J. E. Baker was compelled to leave 
the Frederickstown Circuit. The presiding elder of the 
Jefferson City District, the Rev. N. Shumate, was pur- 
sued and often waylaid. On one occasion, while hold- 
ing a Quarterly Conference at Leasburg, where the 
preacher had already been driven away, he was threat- 
ened by a mob; but he and his congregation armed 
themselves, placed pickets around the house where the 
service was held, and proceeded with the service In- 
singing, 

58 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

' l Though troubles assail 
And dangers affright, 
Though friends should all fail 
And foes all unite" — 

and after this the presiding elder went around on his 
preaching tours carrying two revolvers. 39 

The condition of affairs for the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Missouri began to improve with the driving 
out of the rebel forces under General Price, but with 
the Union occupation of Missouri, persecution was be- 
gun against the Methodist Church South. The blame 
for this persecution was laid largely upon the "North- 
ern ' ' Methodists, 40 who were charged with the desire ' ' of 
wreaking a mean vengeance" upon the Southern Church. 
The Central Christian Advocate, with its editor, Dr. 
Charles Elliott, was also accused of seizing "every event 
that could be tortured into an occasion for an inflamma- 
tory article against the ministers and members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South." 41 

After it became evident that Missouri would remain 
in the Union, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 
adopted a neutral position. Their Church organ in 
Missouri, the St. Louis Christian Advocate, edited by 
Dr. McAnally, advised their people ' ' to remain at home, 
cultivate their lands, and pursue their avocations of 
peace and piety, in the fear of God." 42 The Church 
claimed to be unsectional, unpolitical, and loyal to the 
Constitution and Government, but that many of the 
members were driven by persecution to join the Con- 
federates. 43 - But in spite of their assertion of loyalty 

39 These facts have been drawn from ' ' Southwestern Metho- 
dism," by Elliott. Dr. Elliott was editor of the Central Christian 
Advocate, St. Louis, during the war and had first-hand knowledge 
of many of these occurrences. 

40 ' ' Martyrdom in Missouri, ? ' Lef twich, vol. i, p. 141. 

a Ibid. 

42 ' ' History of Methodism in Missouri, ' ' Lewis, p. 26 and fol- 
lowing. 

i3 Ibid, p. 22. 

59 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

the Methodist Church, South in Missouri had difficulty 
in persuading the authorities to believe it, and it is true 
that every opportunity was seized by the Methodist 
Episcopal Church to increase these suspicions. The 
long story of persecution of the Church South in Mis- 
souri has been collected by an ardent partisan of that 
Church into two good-sized volumes called "Martyrdom 
in Missouri," and the length of the story will give an 
idea of the extent of the persecution. 44 

On the other hand the ministers and members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church took pains to make 
their loyalty as conspicuous as possible. 

At the session of the Missouri Conference of 1862, 
held in St. Louis, the members unanimously resolved, on 
the first day of the session, to testify their loyalty to 
the Union by taking the oath of allegiance in a body, 
and the provost marshal, General Farrar, was invited 
to perform that duty. After taking the oath, a num- 
ber of patriotic addresses were made, including one by 
the provost marshal. A prominent member of the Con- 
ference in his address stated that no credit was due 
them for loyalty, for a disloyal Methodist minister was 
a heretic by his own book. Formerly, said he, "heretics 
were burned, but he would suggest that now they be 
only hanged." 45 

The editor of the Central Christian Advocate was 
presented with fifty dollars by the Southern Illinois 
Conference for the purpose of buying a flag to display 
over his editorial room. This flag was made by five 
"Union, Christian, Methodist" ladies of St. Louis, 
among them being the wife of General C. B. Fisk. On 
the flag were the mottoes "E Pluribus Unum" at the 
top, and on each side respectively were "God and Lib- 
erty" and "Sustain the Union," and at the bottom 

44 ' ' Martyrdom in Missouri, ' ' by Rev. W. M. Lef twich, D. D., 
St. Louis, 1870, 2 vols. 

** Christian Advocate, March 13, 1862. 
60 



Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border. 

was, "The Central Christian Advocate of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church of 1784." This flag was carried 
around the country by the editor to a number of Con- 
ferences, and was displayed at the General Conference 
of 1864, in Philadelphia. 46 

There were a number of instances in Missouri where 
ministers and members of the Church South changed 
to the Methodist Episcopal Church solely on the ground 
of loyalty to the Government. A convention of Union 
members of the Church South was held August 6, 1863, 
which adopted an address to the Missouri Conference 
of that Church, announcing their intention to remain 
in the Church South only if that Church would be loyal 
to the Government of the United States. 47 In 1863 
practically the whole congregation of a Southern Metho- 
dist Church in Louisiana, Mo., came over to the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, 48 and from various places in the 
State Union men in the Church South applied to the 
authorities of the Methodist Episcopal Church to send 
them loyal preachers. 49 

One minister, writing from St. Joseph, Mo., says 
that he is occupying the edifice of the Methodist Church 
South at the request of the Union members of that 
Church. 50 Another minister from St. Louis writes that 
in one Methodist Church (North) of that city one hun- 
dred and twenty-nine new members had been gathered 
within four weeks, and that more than half of them 
had come from the Church South. He also states that 
at a certain service in this church the President's proc- 
lamation was read and prayers offered for the Union. 51 
Still another minister, writing from Lebanon, states 

46 For the complete story of this flag, told by its owner, see 
"Southwestern Methodism," Elliott, p. 311-313. 

47 Annual Cyclopaedia, 1862. 

48 Ibid, 1863, p. 629. 

49 ' ' Southwestern Methodism, ' ' pp. 412, 413. 

50 Christian Advocate, April 10, 1863. 

51 Ibid, April 24, 1862. This was the Union Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

61 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

that there are more loyal members in the Church South 
than he had anticipated, and that in a certain country 
congregation of that Church, consisting of forty-eight 
members, only three were disloyal. 52 

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church appropriated $7,000 in 1863 for the extension 
of the Church in Missouri, and in St. Louis an organi- 
zation was formed for the purpose of encouraging Meth- 
odists to come to the State, 53 and during the war the 
Church made considerable increase throughout the State, 
mostly secessions from the Methodist Church South. 54 
At the session of the Missouri Conference in 1864 it 
was reported that four Southern Methodist preachers 
had joined the Conference and that more than one 
thousand loyal members of the Church South had joined 
the Church during the year. 55 

A writer in one of the Church papers in 1864 says, 
"We think we are justified by the facts in claiming 
for the Methodist Episcopal Church all along the bor- 
der the credit of having stood faithfully by the Govern- 
ment, and that about in proportion to the prevalence 
of Methodism (Northern) in most localities have the 
people been loyal." This does not seem to be an ex- 
travagant claim, and that the people represented by 
the Methodist Episcopal Church were among the most 
loyal along the border there can be no reasonable doubt, 
and also that they exercised a considerable influence in 
keeping those States in the Union is a fact that can not 
be safely disputed. 56 

32 Ibid, January 1, 1863. 

33 Annual Cyclopaedia, 1863, pp. 629, 630. 

M Ibid, 1864, p. 514. General Minutes, 1865, p. 6. 
'"' Christian Advocate, March 7, 1865. 
68 Ibid, June 30, 1864. 



62 



CHAPTER III. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church in the New 
England Atlantic States. 

In the course of this chapter we will consider the 
general patriotic activities of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in the ten States embraced in the New England 
and Atlantic groups; namely, Maine, New Hampshire, 
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. 
The number of Methodists in the New England group 
in 1861 was 104,119, and in the Atlantic group 328,627 ; 
the total number in the two groups being 432,746. 1 
Within this territory there were twenty Conferences 
and 2,759 preachers. 2 

1 The number of Methodists in the New England and Atlantic 
States in 1861, by States, was as follows: 

New England Group: 

Maine 24,267 

New Hampshire 11,757 

Vermont 15,442 

Massachusetts 30,737 

Connecticut 18,849 

Khode Island 3,067 

Total 104,119 

Atlantic Group: 

New York 164,146 

New Jersey 46,275 

Pennsylvania 107,368 

Delaware 10,838 

Total 328,627 

2 The Conferences within these States were the Black Eiver, 
Delaware, East Genesee, East Maine, Erie, Genesee, Maine, New- 
ark, New England, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New 
York East, Oneida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Providence, Troy, 
Vermont, and Wyoming. 

63 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

The Methodist Church in the New England States 
was not nearly so large, proportionately, as in other 
sections of the North, but, though comparatively small, 
it exercised considerable influence, and its membership, 
almost to a man, was loyal to the Government and to 
the administration. 

At this period New England Methodism had a num- 
ber of preachers of great eloquence, who made it a prac- 
tice of preaching "political sermons" on various occa- 
sions. For over twenty-five years slavery and abolition 
had been common pulpit themes in New England, and 
with the breaking out of the war political sermons be- 
came more common, and practically all the Methodist 
preachers in New England discoursed upon these sub- 
jects. One of the most eloquent and brilliant of these 
preachers was Rev. Gilbert Haven, D. D., who was a 
bitter enemy of slavery and an intense patriot. 3 A few 
days after the election of 1860 he preached a sermon 
on the "Election of Abraham Lincoln," 4 which, when 
printed, was dedicated "to the Honorable Charles Sum- 
ner," and on various other National occasions during 
the war, such as Thanksgiving, New Year's, and fast 
days, he preached sermons bearing on the National af- 
fairs. In a New Year's sermon preached in Boston in 
January, 1864, he reviewed the National events of the 
year 1863 in a most eloquent and effective manner, 
which must have had telling effect when delivered with 
his dramatic method. 5 

From time to time such sermons by various preach- 
ers appeared in Z ion's Herald, the Methodist paper of 
New England. Such a sermon appeared in its columns 
on October 9, 1861, from the text, "Is not this the fast 
that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, 

3 Gilbert Haven, afterwards elected to the bishopric. 
4 ' ' National Sermons, ' ' Haven. This sermon was preached in 
the Harvard St. Methodist Church, Cambridge, Mass. 

5 * 'National Sermons," Haven. "The Wonderful Year." 

64 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go 
free, and that ye break every yoke?" (Isa. 58:6.) 6 
An outline of a sermon on secession appeared in Z ion's 
Herald, September 25, 1861, which I reproduce here as 
a clever if not a typical example of such discourses : 

Text: "If the foot shall say, because I am not the 
hand I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the 
body?" (1 Cor. 12: 13.) 7 

I. The Doctrine of Secession — I am not of the body. 

(a) The Antiquity of this Doctrine. It was pro- 
claimed a long while ago. Lucifer and his compeers 
(or co-imps) avowed it. Because they could not reign 
they decided to secede and set up a confederacy. "Bet- 
ter reign in hell than serve in heaven," said the presi- 
dent of the first seceded government. 

(b) The Promulgation of this Doctrine. Not satis- 
fied with seceding themselves, the fallen angels began 
to tamper with the other subjects of God's government. 

(c) The Present Phase of the Doctrine. The same 
as ever ... it simply seeks to overturn government 
by promulgating the old doctrine, "I am not of the 
body." Therefore, being the foot, I propose to walk 
off and take care of myself, and allow others to do the 
same, provided they allow me to take all I want. 

II. The Ground on which the Doctrine is put. "Be- 
cause I am not the hands." If the foot had been 
the hand, that is, if it had been satisfied, it would 
not have advocated the doctrine, therefore 

(a) Dissatisfaction justifies secession. . . . 

(b) The dissatisfaction of the minority justifies se- 
cession. . . . 

(c) Pride enough to avow, and wickedness enough 
to defend the doctrine of secession are the grounds upon 
which it is put. 

... If the doctrine of secession be right and just, 
it follows: 

1. That every man has a right to break up the gov- 
ernment which he can not control. 

6 Preached by Eev. E. S. Stanley on "The National Fast Day." 
7 Zion's Herald, Sept. 25, 1861. 

5 65 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

2. That the father of secession (the devil) and John 
Brown and Jeff Davis are among the few who have un- 
derstood the true principles of government, and ought 
to be canonized. 

It was a common sight in New England, during the 
war, to see a United States flag floating from the tower 
of a church, especially in the towns and cities. Such 
was true of St. Paul's Methodist Church, in Lowell, 
Mass. 8 On the occasion of raising a new flag in place 
of one damaged by a storm, the pastor of the Church, 
in the course of his flag-raising speech, said: "Let the 
National ensign float along our line of battle, over the 
impregnable fortress at the mouth of the Potomac, . . . 
over ' Honest Abe, ' the Nation 's pride and glory, "... 
and closed his speech with the sentence, "The star- 
spangled banner; long may it wave, and soon may it 
be the rebel's dread, as it now is the patriot's boast." 9 
The flag was also usually displayed at the various ses- 
sions of the Conferences, and on one occasion the East 
Maine Conference gave a reception in the church where 
the session was being held, to a company of volunteers, 
at which time the flag was suspended from the gallery. 10 
The New England Conferences also passed patriotic 
resolutions at their various sessions. The resolutions of 
the New England Conference for 1862 are typical of 
the others. 11 They recognize the war as righteously 
visited upon the Nation for its sin in cherishing slavery. 
They recognize that God has given us a President who 
has the respect and the confidence of the people. They 
hail with joy the bill abolishing slavery in the District 
of Columbia. They look forward to the annihilation 
of this foul system, and express the hope that the Gov- 
ernment will not compromise with this great foe of 

s Zion's Herald, Oct. 2, 1861. 

9 From the address of the pastor, Eev. W. E. Clark. 

10 Christian, Advocate and Journal, June 6, 1861. 

11 Minutes of the New England Conference, 1862, p. 24. 

66 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

God and humanity in order to end the war. They state 
that they are bound to recognize the Constitution as 
supreme, and uphold the flag. They behold in the policy 
of the National Government and in the victories of the 
Union armies the triumph of the principles for which 
they have long labored. They promise to follow the 
army and its leaders with prayers and sympathy. They 
extend consolence to the wounded. They express pride 
in their Commonwealth for her part in the war. They 
feel bound to impress upon the conscience of the Nation 
more vigorously than ever before that slavery is a sin 
and must be subdued to gain permanent peace and 
prosperity. 

The war was a frequent topic of discussion in the 
Boston Methodist Preachers' Meeting. Such questions 
as, "Is it under existing circumstances the duty of 
ministers to preach on the subject of the present war?" 12 
and "Will this war result in the maintenance of our 
Constitutional Government as it now is over the whole 
country?" 13 were frequently before the meeting, some- 
times the discussions continuing for several successive 
meetings. In these discussions the famous Father Tay- 
lor took frequent part. At one time he is reported to 
have said, "No secessionist should be allowed to sneeze 
north of Mason and Dixon's line till this war is over, 
nor for fifty years after." 14 At another time he is re- 
ported in the Minutes to have made a flaming speech 
"for war and the extermination of slavery." 15 It was 
Father Taylor, also, who proposed procuring a flag and 
extending it from the building where this body held its 
weekly meetings. 16 

The resolutions passed by the Boston Methodist 
Preachers' Meeting are interesting, showing how ex- 

12 Minutes of the Boston Methodist Preachers' Meeting, April 
22, 1861. 

13 Ibid, Dee. 16, 1861. 15 Ibid, April 29, 1861. 

14 Ibid, May 13, 1861. 16 Ibid, June 3, 1861. 

67 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

tremely radical was the New England mind, and how 
intense was the feeling at the time of Mr. Lincoln's as- 
sassination. The substance of these resolutions follows: 

The Constitution defines treason and affixes its pen- 
alty. No rank or station, civil or military, should shield 
from justice the authors and leaders of the rebellion 
. . . Any leniency of the government toward such is 
worse than wasted, is indeed an undeserved and griev- 
ous cruelty to the insulted sense of justice in the minds 
of the brave defenders of the Union and in the heart of 
the whole loyal population. Never will the Nation feel 
its sense of honor and justice vindicated until the leaders 
of this unprovoked and wicked rebellion shall have suf- 
fered condign punishment, the penalty of death; there- 
fore, 

Resolved, That no terms should be made with trai- 
tors, no compromise with rebels; that the surrender of 
rebels should be unconditional, they should be forced to 
surrender and should be held to the strict justice their 
crimes have merited. 

That we hold the National authority bound by the 
most solemn obligation to God and man to bring all the 
civil and military leaders of the rebellion to trial by 
due course of law, and when they are clearly convicted, 
to execute them. 

That in the reconstruction of Southern States no 
man should hold office who held a commission in the 
rebel army or in the Confederate government, nor shall 
he be allowed to vote. 

It is the duty of the National Government to provide 
for the entire extinction of slavery. 

The supreme sovereignty of the United States Gov- 
ernment must be maintained in the reconstruction of 
the Rebel States. 

The last resolve pledges most earnest and cordial sup- 
port to Johnson if he carries out the policies above set 
forth. 17 

As typical of the patriotism of New England Metho- 

17 Minutes of the Boston Methodist Preachers' Meeting, April 
24, 1865. 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

dists generally and the preachers in particular, I give 
the following incidents: 

In 1863 the Providence Conference had 117 effective 
ministers, and of this number five were chaplains, two 
had enlisted in the ranks, and a number of other min- 
isters, too old to go themselves, had sons in the army. 18 
It was not an uncommon thing for the preachers to 
take an active part in encouraging enlistments. A Meth- 
odist preacher in Boston, in urging his hearers to en- 
list, said, "I 11 enlist now, after you receive the bene- 
diction that will be a proper time to enroll yourselves 
under your country's flag." This minister did enlist, 
together with sixteen members of his congregation. 
Another Methodist preacher, in Newton, Mass., placed 
his name upon the enlistment roll at a war meeting, 
and then made the following appeal to the assemblage, 
"As a servant of my Divine Master, I do not call 
upon you to go, but I say unto you, Come. ' ' 19 Another 
minister, of New Bedford, Mass., published a sermon in 
which he urges all Christian men who have been drafted, 
to go into the army without hesitation, as an example to 
others. 20 It was stated in one of the papers in 1862 
that the First Methodist Church of New Haven had 
furnished more soldiers for the army than any other 
Church in Connecticut. And this Church, at one of 
its Quarterly Conferences of that year, appointed a 
committee to send greetings to their members who were 
in the army. 21 That Methodist people in New England 
enlisted in large numbers there is an abundance of evi- 
dence. 22 

The Atlantic group of Conferences included three 
or four of the largest and most influential Conferences 
in the Church. The New York, the New York Bast, the 

ls Zion's Herald, Feb. 4, 1863. 

19 Western Christian Advocate, July 30, 1862. 

20 Ibid, Aug. 19, 1863. 

21 Christian Advocate and Journal, May 22, 1862. 

22 Western Christian Advocate, Nov. 27, 1867. 

69 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Newark, the New Jersey, and the Philadelphia Confer- 
ences alone, in 1861, had a total membership of 184,307 
and 994 regular preachers, besides 1,003 local preach- 
ers. 23 

This group of Conferences also contained many of 
the most noted and influential ministers and laymen in 
the Church. Among the prominent ministers in these 
Conferences during this period who took a prominent 
part in the patriotic activities of the Church were George 
R. Crooks, D. D. Whedon, John McClintock, Abel Stev- 
ens, Alfred Cookman, John P. Newman, R. S. Foster, 
J. P. Durbin, D. W. Bartine, J. F. Chaplain, and many 
others of more or less prominence. 

The New York East Conference in its various ses- 
sions during the war passed exceptionally strong reso- 
lutions expressive of their loyalty to the Government. 
In the resolutions of 1861 are these words: "While we 
love peace and are the ministers of the Prince of Peace, 
yet we hold it to be the sacred duty of all men to 
love their country and to cherish freedom, and espe- 
cially in times of peril to offer our civil rulers our aid 
and sympathy;" therefore . . . "we, the members of 
the New York East Conference declare our earnest and 
entire sympathy with the cause of our country in this 
conflict, and our purpose to use all means legitimate to 
our calling to sustain the Government of the United 
States." 24 

In the session of the New York East Conference of 
1863 it was determined by a vote of the members to 
have the oath of allegiance administered to the whole 
body. On April 7, 1863, Judge Betts, of the United 
States District Court, and Major General Wool, of the 
army, were conducted into the Conference and were 
given "seats within the altar near the bishop." After 
a few patriotic speeches Judge Betts administered the 

28 General Minutes, 1861, pp. 241, 242. 

u Minutes New York East Conference, 1861, pp. 14, 15. 

70 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

oath, at the close of which General Wool and Hon. 
M. F. Odell addressed the Conference. The Minutes 
state : " It would be impossible to convey, in any terms, 
... a truthful view of the most impressive occasion; 
the vast audience was moved by emotions of moral sub- 
limity, which nothing besides this happy union of re- 
ligion and patriotism could have aroused." 25 A motion 
then passed that the Oath of Allegiance and those who 
signed it be printed in the Minutes. 26 

At this session of the New York East Conference an 
interesting case came before that body. One of its 
members, Rev. T. A. Lovejoy, had been sent to East 
Tranby at the session previous. The official members 
of that Church refused to receive him as their preacher 
unless he would promise not to preach National or 
political sermons. Mr. Lovejoy had then appealed to 
the presiding elder and was transferred to another 
Church. The Minutes state that the Conference heartily 
approved of his course, and a collection was taken for 
him amounting to $238.50, which the bishop (Baker) 
presented to him with appropriate remarks. 27 

At the session of this same Conference in 1864 Rev. 
G. W. Paddock, pastor of the Methodist Church in Law- 
rence, Kan., delivered an address before the body, in 
which he told of Quantrell's raid upon that place. The 
Minutes state: "It may be doubted if a single person 
in that large audience which listened to the speaker 

25 Minutes New York East Conference, 1863, p. 8. 

26 The following is the oath taken by the Conference: "I do 
solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the Consti- 
tution and the Government of the United States against all ene- 
mies, whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, 
allegiance and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution or law 
of any other State convention or Legislature to the contrary not- 
withstanding; and further, that I do this with a full determina- 
tion, pledge and purpose, without any mental reservation or reason 
whatsoever; and further, that I will well and faithfully perform 
all the duties which may be required of me by law. So help me 
God." 

27 New York East Conference Minutes, 1863, p. 8. 

71 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

was ever before so deeply moved by any public address. 
Tears flowed freely from all eyes, and a righteous in- 
dignation was aroused against the fiendish barbarity 
of our Nation's foes." The Minutes also state that 
at the close of the address $400 was given toward the 
erection of a church in Lawrence. 28 At this session it 
was stated by the secretary that he had been informed 
that the New York East Conference had been the first 
religious body to give moral support to the Government 
at the breaking out of the war. The Conference was 
in session when Ft. Sumter was fired upon, and im- 
mediately took action in sending words of encourage- 
ment to the President of the United States. 29 

The resolutions adopted by the New York East Con- 
ference in 1865 were very elaborate. They were drawn 
up by Dr. G. R. Crooks, and consisted of a long pre- 
amble followed by four resolutions, closing with the 
resolution that, as the President had ordered Major 
General Anderson to repair to Charleston on April 14th 
to raise over Ft. Sumter the identical flag that he was 
compelled by his enemies four years ago to haul down, 
that Revs. D. Curry, Geo. R. Crooks, and Hon. M. F. 
Odell be appointed a delegation to go to Charleston to 
represent the Methodists in that exercise. While this 
report was being considered, a number of patriotic ad- 
dresses were made, and after its adoption by a rising, 
unanimous vote the whole Conference united in singing 
the "doxology," "Praise God, from whom all blessings 
flow." 30 

The resolutions adopted by the New York Confer- 
ence at their war sessions were in many respects similar 
to those of the New York East Conference. One of the 
resolutions adopted in 1861 was: "We admire the spon- 
taneous uprising of twenty millions of freemen which 
the first gun fired at Ft. Sumter aroused, who declare 

28 Minutes New York East Conference, 1864, p. 16. 

20 Ibid, p. 20. 30 Ibid, 1865, pp. 3, 4. 

72 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

that no treasure is too costly, no sacrifice too great, no 
time too long, to put down treason and traitors." . . . 
Another resolution of this same year was: ''We have 
unbounded confidence in the present Government of the 
United States, as well as in its wisdom and energy to 
put down rebellion, and to restore National order and 
tranquillity, and therefore will give it our hearty co- 
operation. ' ' 31 

In 1862 their resolutions stated that they would call 
upon their people to sustain the Government, to bear 
cheerfully increased taxation, and to frown upon all 
covert treason, holding all rebels as untrue to the 
Church. 32 

At the session of 1863 there was considerable patri- 
otic demonstration during the consideration of the reso- 
lutions on the "State of the Country." The report 
consisted of nine resolutions, the fourth stating that "the 
conduct of those who, influenced by political affinities 
or Southern sympathies, throw themselves in the path 
of almost every warlike measure, is in our view covert 
treason. ' ' 33 

The Newark Conference in the course of its patri- 
otic resolutions adopted in 1862 stated, "We give no 
countenance to any proposition which contemplates the 
settlement of our National troubles by a separation of 
the States of the Union." 34 

In its other sessions resolutions similar to those noted 
above were passed, with like patriotic demonstrations. 35 

In the course of the session of the Newark Confer- 
ence in 1863 a "flag raising" service was held. At this 
service several patriotic addresses were made. One 
speaker stated that "people say that the ministers have 

31 Christian Advocate and Journal, June 6, 1861. 

32 Minutes New York Conference, 1862, p. 25; also Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal, April 24, 1862. 

33 Ibid, 1863, p. 31. 

34 Minutes Newark Conference, 1862, p. 26. 

35 Ibid, 1863, pp, 32, 33. 

73 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

turned politicians; it is not so. If preaching loyalty 
to the Government be politics, then we can afford to 
be called politicians and, if need be, abolitionists. In 
this great struggle the spirit of war is the spirit of 
the gospel." 36 

In 1865 an interesting case came up for trial in 
the Newark Conference. Complaint was lodged against 
a certain member that he had voted illegally at the last 
Presidential election, having voted in Pennsylvania 
while a resident of New Jersey. In the report of the 
case it was stated that the accused had also used very 
objectionable expressions in reference to the Govern- 
ment and the rebellion. The committee passed on the 
character of the accused, but stated that they hoped in 
the future he would be more prudent and circumspect 
in action and utterance, and that his views on abolition 
and slavery would soon be brought to harmonize more 
fully with the position of the Church. 37 

At the New Jersey Conference in 1865 the first set 
of resolutions on the State of the Country, prepared 
by the committee, were not strong enough to suit the 
Conference, and were recommitted. Among these re- 
modeled resolutions was one stating that "we sympa- 
thize with the President and heads of departments in 
this trying state and condition of our National affairs, 
and that nothing within our power to render for the 
support of the administration, and the most vigorous 
prosecution of the war, for the conquest and subjuga- 
tion of the rebellion, shall be withheld." 38 

The action of the Philadelphia Conference in relation 
to the war has already been noted in the chapter on 
"The Methodist Episcopal Church on the Border." 

The group of Conferences in Northern and Western 
New York and in Western Pennsylvania remain yet to 
be considered in this chapter; namely, the Troy, the 

80 Ibid, 1863, pp. 17, 18. 37 Ibid, 1865, pp. 20, 21. 

38 Christian Advocate and Journal, April 2, 1863. 

74 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

Black River, the Genesee, East Genesee, Erie, Wyoming, 
and Pittsburgh. 

The Troy Conference in 1861 declared "that as citi- 
zens and Christian ministers we acknowledge and pro- 
claim, before all men, our hearty and abiding loyalty 
to the Constitution and Government of the United 
States." 39 Again, in 1863, they declare, "As Christian 
men and citizens we stand ready to respond to the 
call of our country;" and further they state that they 
"regard every effort of men among us to embarrass the 
Government in the conduct of the war as in the last 
degree criminal, and that we will labor to inspire a 
spirit of unity and loyalty among all parties in our 
churches and congregations, endeavoring thus to defeat 
the machinations of traitors and their Northern sym- 
pathizers. ' ' 40 At this session also the Oath of Allegiance 
was taken by the entire Conference. 41 In 1864 this 
significant resolution appears among the others: "That 
as citizens, as well as ministers, we will not only exer- 
cise our right of suffrage as occasion may require, but 
we will exert our influence to prevent the nomination 
and election of the incompetent men to all places of 
trust and responsibility." 42 

The Genesee Conference in 1863 pledge their "lives, 
fortunes, and sacred honor, to maintain the Government 
of the United States." 43 A year later they declare that 
"we will not receive into our Conference any one whose 
patriotism could justly be called in question," and they 
further state that their idea of a Christian patriot is 
one who believes and prays for the success of the Na- 
tional cause, who gives all the aid he can toward it, 
and who is in favor of continuing the struggle. 44 

39 Ibid, May 2, 1861. 

40 Minutes Troy Conference, 1863, 1863, pp. 38, 39. 

41 Christian Advocate and Journal, April 30, 1863. 

42 Minutes Troy Conference, 1864, pp. 46, 47. 

43 Minutes Genesee Conference, 1863, p. 10. 

44 Ibid, 1864, p. 11. 

75 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

The Black River Conference in session in 1861 de- 
clared that, "while we deprecate strife and bloodshed, 
and have earnestly hoped and prayed that they might 
be averted, as a body of over two hundred Methodist 
ministers, representing near 23,000 communicants in 
Northern New York, we now feel ourselves called upon, 
by every consideration of patriotism, humanity and re- 
ligion, to do all in our power to sustain the Government 
of these United States." 45 

The East Genesee, the Erie, Wyoming, 46 and Pitts- 
burgh, all had special patriotic features in their various 
sessions during the war. At the Erie Conference in 

1862 six army chaplains were present and reported con- 
cerning their work. 47 The Pittsburgh Conference in 

1863 states that "we claim the right and regard it as 
an imperative duty to pray publicly for our civil rulers 
and for the success of our arms, and to expose the 
wickedness of secession, and of sympathy therewith, ir- 
respective of the sentiments of any part of the com- 
munity. ' ?48 

Concerning the Pittsburgh Conference the Christian 
Advocate states that "there is not a 'Copperhead' or 
sympathizer with secession in the whole body." 49 On 
the last day of the session of this Conference in 1863 
the flag was authorized to be displayed in the Church, 
and "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung. Com- 
menting on this occasion, the Pittsburgh Christian Ad- 
vocate said : " It was a grand scene. Every countenance 
seemed aglow with a patriotic inspiration as the notes 
swelled and rolled through the Conference room. In 
the patriotic feeling then everywhere visible and ready 

45 Christian Advocate and Journal, May 2, 1861. 
48 Minutes Wyoming Conference, 1862, '63, 64. 

47 Christian Advocate and Journal, Aug. 7, 1862. 

48 Minutes Pittsburgh Conference, 1863, p. 22. 

49 Christian Advocate and Journal, April 16, 1863. 

76 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

to burst forth, we read in legible characters prophecies 
of ~ our ultimate triumph and safety." 50 

We have noted chiefly the formal patriotic action of 
Conferences in New York and Pennsylvania; we turn 
now to the action of individual Churches. It was not 
at all an uncommon thing, especially in the country 
districts of New York and Pennsylvania, for the Church 
and the preacher to take an active part in encouraging 
enlistments, and in some instances the preacher proved 
the chief assistant of the recruiting officer. Instances 
were known where the recruiting was conducted in 
churches, something on the same plan as a Methodist re- 
vival meeting. The minister and recruiting officer would 
stand behind the altar in the country or village church, 
and the preacher would urge the men to come forward 
and place their names on the roll, and instances have 
already been given where the preacher was the first to 
enlist. 

In many of the larger Churches military companies 
were organized which were chiefly composed of members 
of the Church and congregation. Such a company was 
organized in Ebenezer Church, Philadelphia. Fifty-nine 
members of this Church entered the regular service, be- 
sides maintaining this emergency company. 51 

The women in the Churches also organized them- 
selves into sewing societies, for the making of soldiers' 
underwear, knitting of socks, and for the pulling of 
lint. Of "Wharton Street Methodist Church, Philadel- 
phia, it is stated that ' ' company after company marched 
into this church and received articles of underwear" 
and other wearing apparel made by the women of the 
Church. 52 In some instances the women of a certain 

50 Ibid. 

51 ' ' History of Ebenezer Church, of Southwark, Philadelphia. ' ' 
52 "Memorial Eecord of Wharton Street M. E. Church/' J. C. 
Hunterson. 

77 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Church would undertake the care of all the men in 
a hospital. 53 

During the Gettysburg campaign, in the summer of 
1863, there was considerable excitement in Southeastern 
Pennsylvania. Emergency companies were formed 
everywhere. Such a company was formed by the Metho- 
dist preachers of Philadelphia and vicinity. 54 On June 
29, 1863, a special meeting of the Philadelphia preachers 
of the Methodist Church was held, at which time it 
was decided to issue a call in the Evening Bulletin, ask- 
ing all the male members of the Methodist Church to 
meet in their respective churches on that same evening, 
"to deliberate and act upon measures for city defense." 
At this meeting also a committee was appointed to 
meet with certain Protestant Episcopal clergymen, to 
gain their co-operation; and also this committee was 
to wait upon the mayor, to ascertain how they could 
best serve the city. 

At four o'clock of that day the ministers met again, 
heard the report of that committee sent to confer with 
the Episcopalians, after which it was determined to 
go in a body to meet all the Protestant clergy of the 
city. From this meeting all the Protestant ministers 
formed in line, with the flag at their head, and marched 
to the mayor's office to offer themselves "for service 
in any capacity that he may direct." 55 Many of these 
ministers, during these days, shouldered picks and 
shovels and helped throw up fortifications for the de- 
fense of the city of Philadelphia. 56 

The Methodist laity were not behind the ministers 
in the least in their loyalty to the United States and 
in their actions and expressions of patriotism. The 

53 1 ' Seventy-seventh Anniversary of the Union M. E. Church, 
Philadelphia," pp. 81, 82. 

54 Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, June 29, 1863. 

55 Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, June 29, 1863. 

56 From the testimony of Rev. S. W. Thomas, vrho took part in 
these events. 

78 



In the New England Atlantic States. 

Church papers noted from time to time certain regi- 
ments and companies which were made up largely of 
Methodists. Thus the Philadelphia Inquirer stated, in 
August, 1862, that the sheriff of Delaware County, Pa., 
had raised a company made up entirely of Methodists. 57 
The laymen of other Churches also were largely repre- 
sented in the army. For example, the Western Chris- 
tian Advocate of November 27, 1861, stated that three 
companies of the Sixty-first New York Regiment were 
comprised wholly of members of Baptist Churches in 
New York. In another Methodist Church, out of a 
Bible class of eight young men five had enlisted, each 
of whom the minister presented with a Bible. 58 

Of the one hundred or so employees of the Methodist 
Book Concern in New York, twenty-four had enlisted by 
August, 1862, and the others had formed themselves into 
an association, the object of which was to care for and 
aid those of their number who went into the service of 
the United States. 59 

These instances that have been given are typical of 
what was going on in practically all the Methodist 
Churches in the North. Seldom was a sermon preached 
or a public prayer offered that the war was not men- 
tioned and the people urged to a loyal support of the 
Government. One presiding elder in Ohio, whose dis- 
trict comprised territory in which "Butternuts" were 
numerous, preached every Sunday (so he states) on 
the war, and everywhere a loyal support of the admin- 
istration and of the war became practically a part of 
the Methodist creed. 

In the latter part of the next chapter a brief discus- 
sion of the number of Methodist soldiers in the Union 
armies will be given. 

57 Christian Advocate and Journal, Feb. 13, 1862. 

58 Ibid, Sept. 4, 1862. 

59 Christian Advocate and Journal, Aug. 21, 1862. 



79 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church in the Central 
and Northwestern States. 

The Central and the Northwestern States had a large 
Methodist population, and in most of them, if not in all, 
the Methodist Church was the most important and in- 
fluential of all the Churches. In 1861 the Methodist 
population in the seven States in this section was 
425,593, or nearly one-half of the total Methodist popu- 
lation in the North. 1 In these States there were 5,469 
Methodist church buildings, with seatings accommo- 
dating 1,779,265 persons, with a valuation of $7,976,780. 
Within these States were the following Annual Confer- 
ences: Ohio, North Ohio, Cincinnati, Central Ohio, In- 
diana, North Indiana, Northwest Indiana, Southwestern 
Indiana, Illinois, Rock River, Michigan, Detroit, Wis- 
consin, West Wisconsin, Northwest Wisconsin, Iowa, Des- 
Moines, Upper Iowa, and Minnesota. Within this ter- 
ritory also there were three German Conferences: the 
Central German, embracing Ohio, Indiana, and Michi- 
gan ; the Northwestern German, embracing Illinois, Wis- 
consin, and Minnesota; and the Southwestern German, 
which included Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas. 

1 In 1861 the Methodist population and the number of Churches 
in the seven Central and Northwestern States, by States, was as 
follows: Members. No. of Churches. 

Ohio 138,650 2,341 

Indiana 92,884 1,256 

Illinois 91,811 881 

Michigan 33,137 247 

Wisconsin 23,570 320 

Iowa 39,646 344 

Minnesota 5,895 80 

— Methodist Almanac, 1863 ; United States Census, 1860. 

80 



In the Central and Northwestern States, 

The patriotic activities of these Western Methodists 
were very similar in nature to those of the Methodists 
in the Eastern and New England States, with the pos- 
sible exception that there seemed to be even more patri- 
otic enthusiasm there than even among their Eastern 
brethren. The Cincinnati Conference was especially pa- 
triotic, which is evidenced by the fact that twenty-one of 
her preachers went as chaplains, and also by the fact 
that one of the most famous preacher-soldiers, Rev. 
Granville Moody, known throughout the country as the 
fighting parson, was a member of this Conference. In 
1862 the Cincinnati Conference declared, in a series of 
resolutions: We will "besiege a Throne of Grace in be- 
half of the cause of liberty and good order, and will 
continue our efforts publicly and privately, as ministers 
and as citizens in behalf of our Government, hereby de- 
claring our willingness and determination to serve our 
country in any position to which that country may 
call us, ever holding ourselves as ready as our fathers 
were to consecrate to our country's interest and salva- 
tion 'our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honors.' " 2 

Again, in 1863, they declared that the cause of the 
country was just and right, and that the Government 
ought to be maintained at all hazards, and also that it 
was the duty of ministers to sustain the administration. 3 
In 1864 the Cincinnati Conference expressed its sym- 
pathy for the administration, again, in a series of reso- 
lutions similar to those of 1863. 4 

The other Ohio Conferences seemed to be just as pa- 
triotic as the Cincinnati ; indeed, it is impossible to make 
any distinction between any of the Conferences of this 
section in point of patriotism. In 1861 the North Ohio 
Conference declared that this rebellion should be crushed, 
and the integrity, union, and honor of the Nation pre- 

2 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1862, 12, 13. 

3 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1863, pp. 20-22. 

4 Ibid, 1864, pp. 18, 19. 

6 81 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

served; and they further resolved that "we are first 
and last opposed to all compromise with armed rebels 
and traitors." 5 In 1862 they state that "we are proud 
of the universal loyalty of our ministry and member- 
ship." 6 The Central Ohio Conference in 1861 sanc- 
tioned the Government for calling into the field suffi- 
cient armies, and also stated that they deemed it the 
spirit of patriotism and Christianity to stand firm in 
the defense of the country. 7 Again, in 1863, they de- 
clare themselves truly loyal and pledge undivided sup- 
port to the Government. In still another resolve this 
same year they affirm that "loyalty to our Government 
is our motto ; that we hate treason, under whatever garb 
it may appear, and scorn the traitor who would betray 
his country under pretense of love." 8 

The four Indiana Conferences were in no wise behind 
their sister (Ohio) Conferences in expressions of patri- 
otism and loyalty. The Southeastern Indiana Confer- 
ence in 1861 stated in their resolutions "that we esteem 
it as a violation of the laws of God for ministers or 
members of our Church to give aid and comfort to the 
rebellion;" and in another resolution this same year 
they state, "We do most heartily espouse the cause of 
the Constitution and laws, and pledge our prayers, to- 
gether with all the moral influence we may be able to 
exert, to the maintenance of the Government." 9 The 
other Indiana Conferences in 1861 passed resolutions 
equally emphatic in their patriotic expression. 

The Indiana Conference at its session in 1862 re- 
quested the trustees of the Church in which the Confer- 

5 North Ohio Conference Minutes, 1861, pp. 28, 29. 

8 Ibid, 1863, pp. 31, 32. In some sections of Ohio there was a 
small split from the Metbodist Church during the war, made up of 
Southern sympathizers, which organized under the name of the 
Christian Union Church, and which still exists in some localities. 

7 Central Ohio Conference Minutes, 1861, pp. 37, 38. 
«IMd, 1863, pp. 31, 32. 

8 Minutes Southeastern Indiana Conference, 1861 ; also Western 
Christian Advocate, Oct. 23, 1861. 

82 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

ence was being held to hoist the American flag over the 
Church, which, we are told, was cheerfully done. 10 At 
this same session they declared, "We are as much as 
ever in favor of the prosecution of the war till it shall 
terminate in the putting down of the rebellion and in 
the restoration of the Federal authority." 11 This reso- 
lution is significant, when we consider the political con- 
ditions in Indiana in the fall of 1862. Formidable op- 
position to the administration and to the further prose- 
cution of the war had developed in this section, showing 
great strength in Indiana, especially in the November 
elections of that year. This resolution indicates that 
this opposition did not receive the favor of the Metho- 
dist ministers of this section; and with a considerable 
degree of certainty we can state that the "copperhead" 
element was very small in the Methodist Church, even 
in the section where it prevailed the most. At this ses- 
sion, also, of the Indiana Conference (1862) a resolu- 
tion was passed requesting Bishop Ames, the presiding 
bishop, to give the ministers of the Conference who were 
then in the army nominal appointments, in order that 
they might be kept as active members. 12 Again, in 
1864, we find this Conference again condemning "cop- 
perheadism" in the following resolution: "We will in 
every laudable way sustain the Government in its efforts 
to put down the rebellion, both in front and rear; and 
in doing this we will remember that the Christian min- 
ister may speak of the citizens' civil duties." 13 

The conditions prevailing in Indiana were largely 
duplicated in Illinois. Each of the four Illinois Con- 
ferences expressed their loyalty in series of resolutions 
similar to those already noted. A Quarterly Conference 
in Southern Illinois stated "that it is an enormous sin 
against God and humanity for any person to oppose 

10 Minutes Indiana Conference, 1862, p. 4. u Ibid. 

12 Minutes Indiana Annual Conference, 1862, p. 16. 

13 Ibid, 1864, 34, 35. The Copperhead Secret Society, ' ' Knights 
of the Golden Circle, ' ' was particularly strong in Southern Indiana. 

83 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

the Constitutional Government of the United States;" 
and in another resolution they state, "That we regard 
it as the duty of every Christian minister to stand by 
and, as far as consistent with the ministerial character, 
to aid the General Government in vindicating her rights 
and re-establishing her authority all over this coun- 
try." 14 

The Rock River Conference, which was one of the 
largest and most influential in the Central West, and 
included Chicago, was even more profuse than most 
of the others in their patriotic expressions. Concerning 
the session of this Conference in 1861 the editor of the 
Northwestern Christian Advocate states: "The Confer- 
ence is large and loyal — sufficiently so to vacate every 
pulpit, if need be, to sustain the Government. The 
National flag floated over the Conference room and 
many patriotic addresses were delivered by the members 
at a meeting called for the purpose. ' ' 15 This Conference 
also states in its series of patriotic resolutions for this 
year that any member entering the volunteer service, his 
name should be preserved in the records of membership ; 
and in the preamble they state, "As Christians, as 
Christian ministers, we can only say this rebellion must 
be subdued; this Constitution must be maintained." 16 
Among the resolutions of 1863 is one stating, "We con- 
tinue to discountenance faint-hearted endorsement as 
well as avowed opposition to the Government, whether 
bj 7 ministers or laymen." 17 In their resolutions of 1864 
all ministers who move are cautioned not to lose their 
vote in the coming election. 18 

The Central Illinois Conference in 1863 pays its 
compliments to the faint-hearted brethren in the North 
in these words: "We regard those misguided men in 

14 Western Christian Advocate. 

15 Christian Advocate and Journal, Oct. 11, 1861. 
"Minutes Kock River Conference, 1861, pp. 14-16. 

17 Ibid, 1863. ,s Ibid, 1864, pp. 25, 26. 

84 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

loyal States who oppose the vigorous prosecution of the 
war ... as chargeable with the blood of our slaugh- 
tered brethren as having acquired an infamy meriting 
the abhorrence of all good men." 19 

The Michigan Conference in 1861 pledged their all 
for the support of their country, and promised that the 
men under arms should have their love, support, and 
prayers. 20 In 1863 they "pledge to the President and 
governor of the State undivided sympathy and support 
until the Constitution shall be respected, the Union re- 
stored, the rebellion overthrown, and slavery blotted 
out." 21 At one of the sessions of the "Wisconsin Confer- 
ence during the war a patriotic meeting was held at 
which Bishop Baker presided. One witness states that 
"enthusiasm reached a high point," and some of the 
brethren hardly knew whether they were fighting rebels 
at the front or were in a ministerial gathering in Wis- 
consin. This Conference passed resolutions on the war, 
ending with the declaration, "This rebellion, therefore, 
is not only against this Nation, but is treason to the 
entire race and to heaven." 22 Again, in 1863, appears 
this vigorous statement in a series of resolutions adopted 
by the Wisconsin Conference, "At such a time as this, 
neutrality is treason, silence crime, and inaction unpar- 
donable. ' ' 

The long series of patriotic resolutions adopted by 
the Iowa Conference in 1861 is typical of the patriotism 
of Iowa Methodists generally. Among these resolutions 
we find this one: "Resolved, That the present Govern- 
ment of the United States should be sustained by every 
American and every resident of the United States' at 
any expense of men and money in prosecuting this war 

19 Central Illinois Conference Minutes, 1863, p. 25. 

20 Minutes Michigan Conference, 1861, pp. 33-36. 

21 Ibid, 1863, pp. 41, 42. 

22 " History of Methodism in Wisconsin/' P. S. Bennett, pp. 
190-211. 

85 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

to a favorable issue." 23 One Iowa presiding elder in 
1862 reports that there are very few young men left in 
his neighborhood, and that two of his own sons — one 
only eighteen years of age — have joined the army, with 
his consent. 24 Another minister, writing from Minne- 
sota, states that many of the ministers are in the army, 
and that "we are willing to give up all for our coun- 
try." 25 

So much for the formal resolutions of the Confer- 
ences in the Central and Northwestern States. We turn 
now to a consideration of individual Churches in this 
section. 

I have before me a statement of a Union soldier from 
Southern Indiana 26 to the effect that the Methodist 
Church in his community was most loyal, and that many 
of the Churches organized companies of soldiers, and 
in many instances the Churches were used for recruiting 
purposes. In the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois, where the "copperhead" element was especially 
strong, feeling ran very high, and was caught even by 
the children. In one instance some Methodist children 
were playing "prayer-meeting" during these exciting 
times, and one of the prayers of a little fellow, who had 
doubtless caught the spirit of dislike for copperheads 
from his elders, was, "0 Lord, if there are any little 
'butternuts' in this house, I '11 kick them out." 27 And 
this illustrated the prevalent feeling in the Methodist 
Church in this section toward Southern sympathizers. 
It was a very rare thing to find a Methodist preacher 
who was a Democrat; and if it became known that he 
was one, lie had a hard time collecting his salary and 
gaining a hearing. 

23 Western Christian Advocate, Sept. 11, 1861. 

24 Ibid, Aug. 20, 1862. 
^Ibid, Dec. 11, 1861. 

20 Letter of Capt. H. D. Banta, Hanover, Ind. 
27 In some localities "butternuts" was the name applied to 
Southern sympathizers. 

86 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

The Conferences on the Pacific Coast — the Oregon 
and the California — and also the Kansas and Nebraska, 
have not been noted. The membership of all these Con- 
ferences was small, but none the less patriotic. During 
the war Dr. Caddock, pastor of the Church at Lawrence, 
visited the Eastern cities, trying to collect money to 
build a church at Lawrence. His speeches and sermons 
were everywhere well received and were always patriotic 
in the extreme. In 1863 there were seventy preachers 
in the Kansas Conference, and eleven of them were 
chaplains in the army. Nebraska Conference in the 
same year had but sixteen preachers, one of whom was 
a chaplain. 

The General Conference of 1864 remains yet to be 
described. This, the fourteenth delegated General Con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United 
States, met in the Old Union Church, Philadelphia, on 
the second day of May, 1864. There were 216 delegates 
from forty-nine Conferences, presided over by the six 
bishops. During the morning of the first session of the 
Conference a motion was made by Rev. Granville Moody, 
the famous "fighting parson," that "the Friday follow- 
ing be set apart as a day of fasting and prayer to Al- 
mighty God on behalf of our country in this hour of 
her peril," and that Methodist people throughout the 
country be requested to observe this day by similar 
services. 28 After some discussion this motion passed, 
and a committee was appointed to make arrangements 
for the service. 

Immediately after this was done one of the delegates 
stated on the floor of the Conference that the loyal 
ladies of St. Louis had presented Dr. Charles Elliott, 
the war editor of the Central Christian Advocate, with 
a beautiful flag, and he made the motion that it be sus- 
pended in Union Church during the session of the Con- 

28 Journal of the General Conference, 1864, p. 22. 

87 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

ference. This motion also prevailed, and the flag was 
accordingly put in place. 

On Wednesday the committee to arrange for the 
fast day reported that arrangements had been made to 
hold services in three churches: Union, Green Street, 
and Salem; and there were to be three services at each 
church : morning, afternoon, and evening. Among those 
who made addresses were Bishops Morris, Janes, Scott, 
Simpson, Baker, and Ames, Drs. Kingsley, Thomson, 
Elliott, Jesse T. Peck, R. S. Foster, Joseph Cummings, 
Granville Moody, and Thomas A. Eddy. 29 

Among the committees appointed on the first day of 
the Conference was one on the State of the Country. 
Joseph Cummings, of the New England Conference, was 
chairman, and Granville Moody was the secretary of the 
committee. 30 

At the morning session on May 9th, Thomas C. Gol- 
den, of the Northwest Wisconsin Conference, offered the 
following resolutions: 

Whereas, It is a well-known fact that the Methodist 
Episcopal Church was the first to render its allegiance 
to the Government under the Constitution in the days 
of Washington; and 31 

Whereas, The fair record of the Church has never 
been tarnished by disloyalty; and 

Whereas, Our ministers and people are truly and 
deeply in sympathy with the Government in its efforts 
to put down rebellion and set the captives free; there- 
fore, 

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, 
Whose duty it shall be to proceed to Washington and to 
present to the President of the United States, in a suit- 
able address, the assurances of our Church that we are 

29 Journal of the General Conference, 1864, pp. 61, 62. 

30 For personnel of this committee see ibid, p. 37, 38. 

81 This refers to the fact that during Washington 's first admin- 
istration Bishops Coke and Asbury tendered to Washington an ad- 
dress expressing loyalty to the United States in behalf of American 
Methodism. Stevens, "History Methodist Episcopal Church," vol. 
ii, pp. 501-503. 

88 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

with him, heart and soul, in the present struggle for 
human rights and free institutions." 32 

These resolutions were referred to the Committee on 
the State of the Country, with instructions to report at 
the earliest moment, and accordingly on May 13th the 
committee reported favorably on these resolutions, rec- 
ommending, however, that the number of the committee 
to bear the address to the President be five instead of 
three. 33 This report was adopted, and on the following 
day the chairman of the committee, Dr. Joseph Cum- 
mings, presented to the Conference an address to the 
President of the United States, and also nominated the 
deputation of five to bear the address to Washington. 
The nominations were as follows: Bishop Edward R. 
Ames, Joseph Cummings, George Peck, Charles Elliott, 
Granville Moody. 34 

The address of the Conference is too long to give 
verbatim, but it must not be passed over entirely. In 
relation to the Church's part in the war it stated: "In 
the present struggle for the Nation's life many thou- 
sands of her members and a large number of her min- 
isters have rushed to arms to maintain the cause of God 
and humanity. They have sealed their devotion to their 
country with their blood on every battlefield of this 
terrible war." Further on the address states, "Our 
warmest and constant prayer is that this cruel and 
wicked rebellion may be speedily suppressed; and We 
pledge you our hearty co-operation in all appropriate 
means to serve this object." The closing paragraph 
reads: "The prayers of millions of Christians, with an 
earnestness never manifested for rulers before, daily 
ascend to heaven that you may be endued with all 
needed wisdom and power. Actuated by the sentiment 
of the loftiest and purest patriotism, our prayer shall 
be continually for the preservation of our country un- 

32 Journal of the General Conference, 1864, p. 98. 

33 Ibid, p. 147. 3i Ibid, 155, 156. 

89 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

divided, for the triumph of our cause, and for a perma- 
nent peace, gained by the sacrifice of no moral princi- 
ples, but founded on the Word of G-od, and securing in 
righteousness liberty and equal rights to all." 35 

On May 17th the committee bearing this address 
went to Washington to tender it in person to Mr. Lin- 
coln. The committee adopted a suggestion of Rev. Gran- 
ville Moody's that he place the address in the hands 
of Mr. Lincoln and make arrangements for the receiv- 
ing of the committee. This was done, and on the fol- 
lowing day at ten o 'clock the President with his Cabinet 
formally received the representatives of the General Con- 
ference. Bishop Ames introduced his colleagues, and 
then requested the secretary of the committee to read 
the address. At the close Mr. Lincoln received the ad- 
dress, and then turning to his desk, he took up his 
reply which he had prepared over night, and read: 36 

Gentlemen: In response to your address, allow 
me to attest the accuracy of its historical statements, in- 
dorse the sentiments it expresses, and thank you in the 
Nation's name for the sure promise it gives. 

Nobly sustained as the Government has been by all 
the Churches, I would utter nothing which might in 
the least appear invidious against any. Yet without this, 
it may fairly be said that the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, not less devoted than the best, is by its greater 
numbers the most important of all. It is no fault in 
others that the Methodist Episcopal Church sent more 
soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals, and 
more prayers to heaven than any. God bless the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church! Bless all the Churches! And 
blessed be God, who in this our great trial giveth us 
the Churches. (Signed) A. Lincoln. 37 

88 Ibid, pp. 378-380; also McPherson's " Rebellion, ' ' p. 498. 

36 For an account of this meeting see the ' ' Autobiography of 
Rev. Granville Moody, D. D.," edited by Rev. Sylvester Weeks, 
pp. 441-445; also "Lincoln's Tribute to Methodism," by R. T. 
Stevenson, Christian Advocate, Feb. 7, 1907. 

87 The original of this address is now in the possession of Miss 
Rachel Trimble, of Columbus, Ohio. 

90 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

Among Methodists this noble tribute of Lincoln's is 
most highly treasured, and very justly so. 

The next day, May 19th, the committee represented 
by Bishop Ames made a report of their visit to the 
President and read before the Conference Mr. Lincoln's 
tribute. 38 

The Committee on the State of the Country made 
their main report on May 27th. It consisted of a long 
preamble, followed by a series of six resolutions. In 
the preamble the causes of the rebellion are reviewed 
and the loyal position of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
commended. Among its sentences occur the following: 
"It becomes us to pray most earnestly for the end of 
this conflict and for a peace established in righteousness 
on the Word of God, but we should jealously guard 
against a false and hollow peace gained at the sacrifice 
of moral principles." Further on it continues: "We 
should frowfn with indignation on all as guilty of dis- 
loyalty Who coldly criticise every measure of the ad- 
ministration in this struggle for the National life under 
the hypocritical pretense that they are careful that the 
fundamental law should not be violated and we should 
give to all honest, earnest, righteous measures to crush 
this rebellion our hearty support." 

A summary of the six resolutions is here given: 

1. The promise to remember the President of the 
United States and all officers of the Government and of 
the army and navy in their prayers. 

2. They proclaim it the duty of the Government 
to prosecute the war with all the resource, and they 
promise support and co-operation. 

3. The cause of the war is the Nation's forgetful- 
ness of God and slavery, and it is the Nation's duty 
to humble itself to and to honor God. 

4. The Constitution should be charged as to make it 
recognize God and the Nation's dependence upon Him. 

3S Journal of the General Conference, 1864, p. 177. 
91 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

5. Slavery is abhorrent to the principles of "reli- 
gion, humanity, and civilization," and they favor an 
amendment to the Constitution prohibiting it through- 
out the country. 

6. While deploring the evils of war, they rejoice in 
the manifestation of benevolences as displayed in the 
Sanitary and Christian Commissions and in the associa- 
tions for the Freedman, and they pledge these organi- 
zations their support. 39 

It would be interesting to know just how many sol- 
diers in the Union army and navy were Methodists, but 
it is impossible to give the exact number. The Phila- 
delphia Conference, however, in 1864 passed a series of 
resolutions which, had they been carried out, would 
have given more or less exact information in this re- 
gard. These resolutions were as follows: 

Whereas, There now exists a fearful struggle for 
the maintenance of the Federal Government against 
treason and rebellion; and 

Whereas, The history of this great struggle will be 
written and published to the world; and 

Whereas, It is important that the history of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in its connection with this 
struggle be correctly and fully written; therefore, 

Resolved, That the members of this Conference be 
requested to furnish to the secretary at the next session 
a correct statement of the number of our Churches and 
congregations who have entered the United States service 
to put down the wicked rebellion now afflicting our 
country; and what number of them have held official 
positions in our army and navy, with their respective 
rank, and what number of them have been wounded, 
killed or died in the service of their country; 

Resolved (2), That these returns be printed in the 
published Minutes of the Conference ; 

Resolved (3), That the bishops of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church be requested to present the above resolu- 

39 Ibid, pp. 380-383. 

92 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

tions to the several Annual Conferences of the Church 
for their concurrence. 40 

At the next session of the Philadelphia Conference 
(1865) the same series of resolutions were again adopted, 
and were printed in the Minutes of that year. 41 

Not many of the Conferences carried out the inten- 
tion of these resolutions. The West Wisconsin Confer- 
ence, however, in 1862 reported the number of enlisted 
men from the various Churches within its bounds. This 
Conference embraced only eleven counties, which were 
not thickly populated. The number from the five dis- 
tricts of that Conference in 1862 was : Madison District, 
75 ; Mineral Point District, 68 ; Point Bluff District, 43 ; 
Platteville District, 34; Prairie du Chien District, 19; 
making a total for the first year of the war of 239. 42 
The members of the West Wisconsin Conference in 
1862 was 7,779. 43 It was stated that these returns were 
imperfect, and probably a number of names were not 
reported, but even if Methodists enlisted in that pro- 
portion throughout the country, it would give a total 
of 31,000 Methodists in the Union army for the first 
year of the war alone, or close to 125,000 for the four 
years. It is probable, however, that the enlistments 
of Methodists in other sections of the country, especially 
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were larger 
in proportion than in Wisconsin. Nicolay and Hay in 
their " Abraham Lincoln" state that "the Western 
armies especially were filled with the young and vigor- 
ous fighting men of that connection" (Methodist Epis- 
copal). 44 

We have record of a number of companies made up 

40 Minutes Philadelphia Conference, 1864, p. 51. 

"Ibid, 1865, p. 52. 

42 ' ' History of Methodism in Wisconsin, ; ' Bennett and Lawson, 
pp. 370, 371. 

43 General Minutes of the Conferences of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, 1862, 1863, p. 158. 

44 ' ' Abraham Lincoln, A History, ' ' vol. vi, p. 324. 

93 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

largely of Methodists. The Ninety-eighth Ohio con- 
tained four Methodist preachers and a large supply of 
class leaders, stewards, exhorters, and Sunday school 
superintendents, and Company E of that regiment con- 
tained sixty Methodists. 45 One company from Delaware 
County, Pa., was composed entirely of Methodists. 46 In 
another Pennsylvania company containing 69 soldiers 
who were Church members, 35 were Methodists, 9 Lu- 
theran, 12 Presbyterian, 1 Moravian, 8 Baptists, and 
4 Episcopalians. 47 In the Fourteenth Virginia Regiment 
the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and four captains, and 
upwards of three hundred privates were Methodists. 48 

Rev. T. B. Bratton, of the Mssouri Conference, 
raised two companies, including many members of his 
own Church, for the Thirty-fourth Missouri Regiment. 
In a little Church at Pontiac, Central Illinois Confer- 
ence, the minister and all the male members but three 
enlisted. 49 A large proportion of the Twelfth Michigan 
Regiment were members of the Methodist Church from 
the Niles District. The assistant editor of Z ion's Her- 
ald, Rev. J. E. Round, raised a company of nine-months' 
men, and Rev. Geo. Bowler, of the New England Con- 
ference, recruited a regiment. 50 In 1862 there were 
nine preachers of the Western Virginia Conference in 
the army as chaplains. 51 Besides the large number of 
Methodist preachers who entered the army as chaplains 
there were a considerable number who became commis- 
sioned officers, and also a larger number who were 
simply privates. In 1862 it was reported that there 
were sixty-three Methodist preachers who held commis- 
sions, as follows: 4 colonels, 2 lieutenant-colonels, 1 
major, 36 captains, and 20 other commissioned officers. 52 

General Clinton B. Fisk in 1862 stated that fifteen 

45 Christian Advocate, Sept. 11, 1862. 

46 Ibid, Aug. 21, 1862, from Philadelphia Inquirer. 
"Ibid, May 5, 1864. 50 Ibid, Sept, 11, 1862. 
48 Ibid, Oct. 30, 1862. a Ibid, Feb. 6, 1862. 

19 Ibid, Sept. 4, 1862. B2 Ibid, June 19, 1862. 

94 



In the Central and Northwestern States. 

per cent of the composition of the Union armies were 
Methodists, 53 and if this proportion would hold true for 
the four years of the war, it would bring the number 
to something like 300,000, which doubtless is consider- 
ably too large. A study of Methodist statistics for the 
war would indicate somewhat the large contribution of 
men to the army and navy made by the Methodist 
Church. In 1862 there was a decrease of 45,617 in the 
membership over 1861; in 1863 there was a decrease of 
19,512 over 1862; in 1864 there was a slight increase 
of 4,926 over 1863, and again a slight increase of 939 
in 1865. When the war began, the total membership of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church was 990,447, and when 
the war closed there was a membership of 929,259; a 
net loss for the war of 61, 188. 54 There is no doubt 
but that this loss was largely due to enlistments of 
Methodist men in the army of the Union. 

53 Ibid, March 13, 1862. 

54 General Minutes, 1860-1865. 



95 



CHAPTER V. 

Methodist Missions in the South During the 

War. 

During the progress of the war, following the suc- 
cess of the Union armies, many cities, towns, and other 
localities throughout the South, fell as a matter of 
course into Federal hands. In most instances where 
such was the case the regular ministers in charge of the 
various Churches in those places fled on the approach 
of the Federal armies and left their flocks, or what was 
left of them, to get along as best they might. 1 Such 
was the case in New Orleans, after its capture by 
General B. F. Butler. At least twoscore churches in 
that city were left unoccupied, and in the five Methodist 
churches in the city in 1862 there was not a single min- 
ister habitually officiating. Such was also the case in 
the five Presbyterian churches in New Orleans. 2 Like 
conditions prevailed in Baton Rouge, where a large and 
beautiful white marble church was standing idle; and 
also in Newbern, N. C. ; Vicksburg, Natchez, Pensacola, 
Memphis, and many other places, large and small, in 
all parts of the South where the Union armies had met 
with any considerable success. 3 

This situation was brought to the attention of the high 
officials of the Churches in the North, and of Northern 

1 Christian Advocate and Journal, Oct. 9, 1862; also "The 
Church and the Rebellion," Stanton, pp. 332-334. 

2 MePherson 's ' ' Rebellion, ' ' p. 545. See table from the Report 
of a Committee Commissioned by the Provost Marshal General of 
the Dept. of the Gulf to investigate the condition of Presbyterian 
and Baptist Churches in New Orleans. 

3 Christian Advocate, Feb. 4, 1864. 

96 



Methodist Missions in the South During War, 

Church people generally, mainly through letters written 
many times by army chaplains to the Church papers or 
to their friends, and I have found also a number of let- 
ters describing Church conditions in the South written 
by privates. The various issues of the Church papers of 
all denominations throughout the war were filled with 
War news, and in a prominent place, often on the front 
page, appeared some sort of direct communication from 
the seat of war. These communications often contained 
information concerning the condition of the Churches in 
the particular locality from which the letter was written. 
These deserted churches were sometimes used by the 
chaplains for services, and when this was the case the 
members of the congregation were usually invited to 
attend the services with the soldiers. But of course this 
could be only a temporary arrangement. 4 

That this situation in the South was generally known 
in Northern Church circles is evidenced by the following 
resolutions passed by the Methodist Ministers' Associa- 
tion in Boston, October 13, 1862 : 

Resolved, That, inasmuch as one of the consequences 
of the war to suppress the great rebellion in the South- 
ern part of this country is to open large tracts of coun- 
try inhabited by many thousands of our fellow country- 
men who are now to a greater or less extent deprived 
of Church privileges, we deem it the duty of the Mis- 
sionary Board of the Churches to examine the demands 
of such places for aid from time to time, and whenever 
in their judgment the employment of missionaries in 
those places would probably promote the cause of Christ 
and the salvation of souls, they should establish and 
sustain such missions. 

Resolved, That we believe that it is the imperative 
duty of the Missionary Board at once to enter upon this 
work, and that the Churches generally would, if properly 
appealed to, contribute liberally to sustain them." 5 

4 Christian Advocate and Journal, Oct. 9, 1862. 

5 Minutes of the Boston Methodist Preachers ' Meeting, October 
13, 1862. 

7 97 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

Similar resolutions were adopted in New York, Phila- 
delphia, 6 and other places, and the Missionary Boards of 
the various denominations were considering the appro- 
priation of money for special work in the South as 
early as November, 1862. 

But before such work in the South could be under- 
taken by the Churches, the consent of the Government 
had to be obtained and the protection of the various 
Union commanders in the South secured. To obtain this 
permission, Bishop Edward R. Ames, of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, went to Secretary Stanton and 
secured the following order from the "War Depart- 
ment : 

War Department, Adjudant General's Office. 
Washington, November 30, 1862. 

To the Generals commanding the Departments of Mis- 
souri, the Tennessee, and the Gulf, and all Generals 
and Officers commanding armies, detachments, and 
posts, and all officers in the service of the United 
States in the above mentioned Departments: 

You are hereby directed to place at the disposal of 
Rev. Bishop Ames all houses of worship belonging to 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in which a loyal 
minister, who has been appointed by a loyal Bishop of 
said Church does not officiate. 

It is a matter of great importance to the Government 
in its efforts to restore tranquillity to the community and 
peace to the Nation, that Christian Ministers, should by 
example and precept, support and foster the loyal senti- 
ment of the people. 

Bishop Ames enjoys the entire confidence of this De- 
partment, and no doubt is entertained that all ministers 
who may be appointed by him will be entirely loyal. 
You are expected to give him all the aid, countenance, 
and support practicable in the execution of his impor- 
tant mission. You are also authorized and directed 
to furnish Bishop Ames and his clerk with transporta- 

6 Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, Nov., 1862. 
98 



Methodist Missions in the South During War. 

tion and subsistence when it can be done without preju- 
dice to the service and will afford them courtesy, assist- 
ance, and protection. 

By Order of the Secretary op War. 7 

On December 9th the same order was given concern- 
ing houses of worship of the same denomination in the 
Departments of North Carolina and Virginia, and de- 
livered to Bishop O. C. Baker, and those in the Depart- 
ment of the South, and delivered to Bishop E. S. Janes. 8 
On December 30th the same order was given concerning 
Methodist Churches in Kentucky and Tennessee, and de- 
livered to Bishop Matthew Simpson. 

On January 14, 1864, a similar order was issued con- 
cerning the Baptist Churches in the South, the military 
commanders being directed to turn over to the Ameri- 
can Baptist Home Mission Society all churches of the 
Baptist Church South ' ' in which a loyal minister of said 
Church does not now officiate. ' ' 9 On February 15, 1864, 
the military commanders were directed to place at the 
disposal of the agent of the "Board of Home Missions 
of the United Presbyterian Church" all houses of wor- 
ship belonging to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian 
Church "in which a loyal minister was not officiating. ' ' 10 
An order of the War Department, dated March 10, 1864, 
and relating to the Presbyterian Church, states that 
"The Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church and the Presbyterian Committee of Home Mis- 
sions" has the entire confidence of the department, and 
the military commanders throughout the South are to 
permit all ministers bearing a commission from these 
boards to exercise the functions of their office and are 
to give such countenance and support/ 1 This last order 
was issued at the solicitation of the two secretaries of 

7 McPherson, < ' Kebellion/ ' P- 521; ''Official Eeeords," vol. 34, 
p. 311. 

8 Ibid, p. 521. 10 McPherson, p. 522. 

9 Ibid. * Ibid. 

99 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

the respective boards mentioned in the order, one located 
in New York and the other in Philadelphia. 

On March 23, 1864, the following order to the mili- 
tary commanders in the South, relating to the United 
Brethren Chnrch, was issued : 

You are hereby directed to give to the teachers and 
missionaries sent out by the "Church of the United 
Brethren in Christ" such privileges and facilities for 
their work within the limits of your commands as are 
usually given to others under similar circumstances and 
are not prejudiced to the service." 12 

These orders of the War Department opened the 
way for the various Churches to send their representa- 
tives into the South, and we find Bishop Ames immedi- 
ately after securing the order noted above, taking a trip 
into the South to investigate conditions there, prepara- 
tory to sending loyal ministers into the deserted districts. 
And we also find the respective missionary boards and 
societies of the various Churches appropriating consider- 
able sums of money to carry on this work. Early in 
1864 the Missionary Board of the Methodist Church 
made an appropriation of $35,000 for this work in the 
South, 13 and a number of missionaries were sent within 
the Union lines to take possession of the vacant fields 
and pulpits. The Minutes of the various Conferences 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1864-65 record 
twenty-one regularly ordained men who were sent as 
missionaries to the South during the last two years of 
the war, and besides these there were numerous teachers 
and other workers sent into the field to do missionary 
work. Among the places to which they were sent were 
New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Nashville ; Newbern, N. C. ; 
Beaufort and Charleston, S. C. ; Shelbyville and vicinity, 
Murfreesborough, and Memphis. 14 

12 Ibid. "Annual Cyclopedia, 1864. pp. 629, 630. 

14 Christian Advocate and Journal, March 22, 1864; also Gen- 
eral Minutes of the Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
1862-1865, 2 vols. 

100 



Methodist Missions in the South During War. 

A few days after the occupation of the city of 
Charleston by the Union army, the Methodist missionary 
in charge of that military department visited the city 
to look after Methodist interests there. It was his plan 
to get possession of the Methodist churches in the city 
not simply by military authority, but at the request 
of the Official Boards of these Churches. This he seems 
to have succeeded in doing, for on March 9, 1865, we 
find the various officers of the Methodist Churches in 
Charleston passing resolutions requesting the com- 
mander of the post of Charleston to turn over to the 
missionary appointed to that department all the Metho- 
dist churches and parsonages in the city; also pledging 
to the missionary their aid, sympathy, and co-operation. 
Of the first service held in a Methodist church in 
Charleston 15 after its occupation by the Union army it 
was stated that the church was about two-thirds full, 
and that when the country and the President were 
prayed for there were audible responses in the congre- 
gation. 

The military order relating to the churches and pul 
pits in Norfolk and Portsmouth will illustrate the usual 
method of procedure in taking military possession of the 
churches, and will also show to what extent these 
churches were controlled by the military commanders: 

General Order No. 3. — All places of public worship 
in Norfolk and Portsmouth are hereby placed under the 
Provost Marshal of Norfolk and Portsmouth respect- 
ively, who shall see the pulpits properly filled by dis- 
placed, when necessary, the present incumbents, and sub- 
stituting men of known loyalty and the same sectarian 
denomination, either military or civil, subject to the ap- 
proval of the Commanding General. 

They shall see that the Churches are open freely to 
all officers and soldiers, white or colored, at the usual 
hour of worship, and at other times, if desired, and 
they shall see that no insult or indignity be offered to 

15 Christian Advocate and Journal, March 23, 1865. 
101 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

them, either by word, look or jesture, on the part of the 
congregation. The necessary expenses will be levied, 
as far as possible, in accordance with the previous usages 
or regulations of each congregation, respectively. No 
property shall be removed, either public or private, with- 
out permission from these head-quarters." 16 

The following letter, dated from Memphis, December 
23, 1863, addressed to Bishop Ames, written by the 
Union commander of that post, will further illustrate 
the method by which the Southern Church properties 
were turned over to their Northern brethren: 

In obedience to the orders of the Secretary of War, 
dated Washington, November 30, 1863, ... I place 
at your disposal a house of worship known as "Wesley 
Chapel," in the city of Memphis, State of Tennessee. 
The said house being claimed as the property of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and there being no 
loyal minister appointed by a loyal Bishop, now offici- 
ating in said house of Worship. 17 

This action of the Northern Churches, in conjunction 
with the military authority, in going into the South at 
this time and under these circumstances, aroused con- 
siderable hostility upon the part of the Church people 
in the South and served to increase their bitterness of 
feeling toward their Northern brethren. This action of 
the Northern Churches was denounced in the bitterest 
language by Southern Conventions, Presbyteries, Synods, 
and Conferences. In the Presbytery of Louisville of 
1864, resolutions were proposed protesting against the 
action of the Board of Domestic Missions in procuring 
the order from the War Department permitting that 
board's missionaries to go into the Southern States, and 
they called upon the General Assembly to "at once dis- 
avow the said act, so that the Church may be saved from 
the sin, the reproach, and ruin which this thing is cal- 
culated to bring upon her." 18 

16 "The Church and the Rebellion," Stanton, pp. 239. 

17 McPherson, pp. 522, 523. 18 McPherson, p. 522. 

102 



Methodist Missions in the South During War. 

On April 6, 1864, a convention of ministers of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from States within 
the Federal lines met at Louisville, Ky., for the express 
purpose of adopting measures for the preservation of 
their Church properties. Eight Conferences were repre- 
sented. This convention adopted the following resolu- 
tions upon the subject: 

Whereas, Under an order issued by the Secretary of 
War, the authorities of another ecclesiastical body, dis- 
tinct from, if not antagonistic to the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South, have been impowered to take posses- 
sion of the houses of worship belonging to said Church; 
and 

Whereas, We are informed and believe that said or- 
der does not meet the approval of the President of the 
United States; and further, believing that in the judg- 
ment and enlightened Christian feeling, both of the offi- 
cers of the army and many sober-minded Christians, the 
order is regarded as unjust, unnecessary and subversive 
alike of good order and the rights of a numerous body 
of Christians; therefore, 

Resolved, That we do most respectfully protest 
against the execution of said order, and request the Pres- 
ident to restrain and prevent its enforcement. 19 

It was the feeling among many Southern Methodists 
that the Church in the North was trying to absorb the 
Southern Church. Indeed, many of the leading Metho- 
dists in the North expressed the opinion that the reunion 
of the two great bodies of Methodists ought to be at- 
tempted at the close of the war. The Union would be re- 
united, why not Methodism ? 20 But the deathblow to any 
attempt at a union of the Churches, North and South, 
at this time was struck by the bishops of the Methodist 
Church South 21 in a pastoral letter which they sent out 

19 Annual Cyclopaedia, 1864, p. 515. 

20 Ibid, 1865. 

21 The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had separated from 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844 over the question of slave- 
holding in the Church, and since that time had maintained an en- 
tirely separate organization in the South. 

103 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

over the South at the close of the war. One of the 
reasons they give why a union with Northern Metho- 
dism is impossible was ' ' the conduct of certain Northern 
Methodist bishops and preachers in taking advantage of 
the confusion incident to a state of war to intrude them- 
selves into several of our houses of worship, and in con- 
tinuing to hold these places against the wishes and pro- 
tests of the congregations and rightful owners." This 
conduct, they go on to state, causes them pain "not only 
as working an injury to us, but as presenting to the 
world a spectacle ill calculated to make an impression 
favorable to Christianity." 2 ^ 

One of the most famous of the cases of military in- 
terference with ministers and Churches during the war 
took place in connection with a certain Dr. Samuel B. 
McPheeters, a minister of an important Presbyterian 
Church in St. Louis. This case has no bearing, itself, 
upon the mission work of the Churches in the South, 
except that it is in connection with this case that Presi- 
dent Lincoln's attitude toward military interference 
with Churches is most clearly brought out. 23 

On December 19, 1862, Major General Curtis, com- 
manding the Department of the Missouri, issued an or- 
der deposing McPheeters from his pulpit and ordered 
him and his wife to leave the State within ten days. 
The order is prefaced with the statement that McPhee- 
ters has refused to declare his loyalty to the Government, 
had given the impression that he desired the success 
of the rebel armies, that the influence of his ministerial 
position had greatly encouraged the enemies of the Gov- 
ernment, that he had exerted an injurious influence upon 
the young, and that his wife had openly avowed herself 
a rebel; so for these reasons, the order states, both Mc- 
Pheeters and his wife had forfeited the protection and 

-Annual Cyelopa?dia, 1865, p. 620. 

23 All the correspondence relating to this famous case is found 
in MePherson's "Rebellion," pp. 533-537. 

104 



Methodist Missions in the South During War. 

favor of the Government. The order also states that 
the church edifice, books and papers, are to be turned 
over to the loyal members of the Church, who are named, 
who shall secure a loyal minister to fill the pulpit. 24 

This order of General Curtis led to a long discussion 
between the various parties concerned, which covered 
more than a year, and included, besides General Curtis 
and McPheeters, the Attorney General of the United 
States, the Governor of Missouri, and the President of 
the United States. 

On December 23d, McPheeters wrote a long letter 
to Hon. Edward Bates, Attorney General of the United 
States. 25 As a result of this letter the first order of 
General Curtis is modified so as not to require McPhee- 
ters and his wife to leave the State. In January, 1863, 
President Lincoln, writing to General Curtis concerning 
the case, after having had an interview with McPheeters, 
stated: "Now, after talking with him (McPheeters), 
I tell you frankly, I believe he does sympathize with 
the rebels; but the question remains whether such a 
man of unquestioned good character, who has taken such 
an oath as he has . . . can with safety to this Gov- 
ernment be exiled upon the suspicion of his secret sym- 
pathies . . . But I add that the United States Govern- 
ment must not, as by this order, undertake to run the 
Churches. When an individual, in a Church or out of 
it, becomes dangerous to the public, he must be checked ; 
but let the Churches, as such, take care of themselves. 
It will not do for the United States to appoint Trustees, 
Supervisors, or other agents for the Churches." 26 

Later in the year (1863) Mr. Lincoln wrote to some 
of McPheeters 's friends, who had requested him to re- 
store McPheeters to his ecclesiastical privileges : * ' I have 
never interfered, nor thought of interfering as to who 
shall or who shall not preach in any Church, nor have 

24 McPherson, p. 533. 25 Ibid. 

w Ibid, p. 534. 

105 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

I knowingly or believingly tolerated any one else to so 
interfere by my authority." 27 

After this very plain statement of his position in this 
matter of military interference with the Churches, we 
may imagine the feelings of the President when he 
learned of the order of the War Department, dated 
November 30, 1863, noted above, giving the military 
commanders the right to seize churches and turn them 
over to loyal agents of Northern societies. His attention 
was called to this order by a certain Rev. John Hogan, 
claiming to represent the loyal members of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, South, in Missouri, who wrote 
to the President, bitterly complaining of this order. On 
Mr. Lincoln's receipt of this letter he wrote a note to 
Secretary Stanton, in which he says: ''After having 
made these declarations 28 in good faith and in writing, 
you can conceive of my embarrassment at now having 
brought to me what purports to be a formal order of 
the War Department, bearing date November 30, 1863, 
giving Bishop Ames control and possession of all the 
Methodist Churches in certain Southern military depart- 
ments where pastors have not been appointed by a loyal 
bishop or bishops . . . and ordering the military to 
aid him against any resistance which may be made to 
his taking such possession and control. What is to be 
done about it?" 29 

In response to this vigorous letter of the President, 
the Secretary of War directed that an explanatory order 
be issued, in which it was stated that the order of No- 
vember 30, 1863, was designed to apply to those States 
as are in rebellion, and is not designed to operate in 
loyal States, ''nor in cases where loyal congregations 
in rebel States shall be organized and worship upon the 

27 McPherson, p. 536. 

M Declarations, cited above, made in reference to the MePhee- 
ters' case. 

20 McPherson, p. 522, note. 

106 



Methodist Missions in the South During War. 

terms of the President's amnesty." 30 On the same day 
that this explanatory order was issued, Mr. Lincoln sent 
a note with the above order to Rev. John Hogan, in 
which he states : ' * As you see within, the secretary modi- 
fies his order so as to exempt Missouri from it. Ken- 
tucky never was within it, nor, as I learn from the sec- 
retary, was it ever intended for any more than a means 
of rallying the Methodist people in favor of the Union 
in localities where the rebellion had disorganized and 
scattered them. Even in that view I fear it is liable to 
some abuses, but it is not easy to withdraw it entirely 
and at once." 31 

Mr. Lincoln was certainly never in favor of this plan 
of military interference with the Churches, as his words 
very clearly indicate; and, doubtless, if he had discov- 
ered the order of November 30, 1863, sooner it would 
have been withdrawn " entirely and at once." On 
March 4, 1864, he wrote to the Union commander at 
Memphis regarding some interference by the military 
with a Church there : ' ' If the military have need of the 
church building, let them keep it, otherwise let them 
get out of it, and leave it and its owners alone, except 
for causes that justify the arrest of any one." Two 
months later, May 13, 1864, the President wrote again 
to this same commanding officer: "I am now told that 
the military were not in possession of the building, and 
yet, in pretended execution of the above, they, the mili- 
tary, put one set of men out of and another set of men 
into the building. This, if true, is most extraordinary. 
I say again, if there be no military need of the build- 
ing, leave it alone, neither putting any one in or out 
of it, except on finding some one preaching or practicing 
treason, in which case lay hands on him, just as if 
he were doing the same thing in any other building, 
or in the street or highways." 32 These vigorous words 

30 Ibid. 31 MePherson, p. 522, note. 

32 "Abraham Lincoln/' Nicolay and Hay, vol. vi, p. 338. 

107 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

of Mr. Lincoln very clearly indicate how much his pa- 
tience was taxed over these petty Church squabbles. 

The activity of the Northern Churches in seeking an 
entrance into the South during the progress of the war 
aroused also considerable opposition on the part of the 
Border State congressmen. On March 31, 1864, Senator 
Powell of Kentucky introduced a resolution directing the 
Secretary of War to turn over to the Senate all orders 
issued to military commanders pertaining to Church 
properties, and that he also inform the Senate how 
many Churches have been affected by this order. 33 This 
resolution was laid on the table — 27 yeas to 11 nays — the 
senators from the Border States voting in the negative. 
In July, Mr. Powell introduced a bill making it a mis- 
demeanor with punishment on conviction of a fine not 
exceeding $10,000 and imprisonment for not more than 
ten years, and disqualification from holding any offices 
under the Government of the United States for the Sec- 
retary of War or any military commander to interfere 
in any way with Churches or the conduct of public wor- 
ship. This bill never got past the committee, but it 
serves to show the bitter feeling which this activity of 
the Northern Churches aroused. 34 ^ 

Perhaps one of the best known of these Northern 
missionaries who went into the South during the war 
was Dr. John P. Newman, afterwards a bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and the pastor and per- 
sonal friend of President Grant. He was sent to New 
Orleans in the spring of 1864 to take charge of the 
Methodist work there, and according to the Church pa- 
pers he seems to have had considerable success. Soon 
after his arrival in New Orleans he delivered an ad- 
dress in which he attempted to justify his presence 
there and the work which he came to do. He said: "We 
are denounced as Church robbers, are charged with 
having robbed the people of the South of their Church 

33 McPherson, p. 543. 84 Ibid. 

108 



Methodist Missions in the South During War, 

properties. My answer is: The right of Church prop- 
erty has never been disturbed, as far as we are con- 
cerned. The General Government has seen fit to seize 
these churches, but it has not conveyed their title to us. 
There has been no passing of deeds. We do not own 
an inch, either of this or any other Church in the South. 
... If there has been any robbing, the accusation lies 
against the General Government. But the Government 
has committed no robbery. It was aware that these 
churches were occupied (so far as they were occupied 
at all) by congregations united by disloyal sympathies 
and by teachers disposed to inculcate treason." 35 

Another writer of the period, representing the Pres- 
byterian Church, defends this action of the Northern 
Churches in these words: "The Church looked at the 
simple facts that many Southern pulpits were vacant 
and that others would become so, as our armies should 
advance, that Southern ministers had abandoned, or 
had been driven from their positions, and that the Gov- 
ernment would not allow any but loyal men to fill their 
places. . . . The Gospel, therefore, would not be 
preached at all to multitudes of people . . . unless 
the Government should open the way. Under these cir- 
cumstances was the Church doing wrong or right in 
asking the sanction of the Government, . . . obtaining 
a 'permit,' — for it was not more than that, — and just 
what is sometimes done on heathen ground, ... to 
'go into all the South and preach the Gospel to every 
creature?' " 36 

The argument that it would strengthen the Union 
cause to have a loyal ministry and a loyal Church in 
the South was used frequently at this time. It is un- 
doubtedly true that these Northern missionaries who 
went into the South did succeed in gathering around 
them a few loyal hearers, but as a rule they were not 

35 McPherson, pp. 523, 524. 

36 "The Church and the Kebellion," Stanton, pp. 338-340. 

109 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

influential to any appreciable extent in building up any 
considerable Union sentiment in the South, They did, 
however, serve to increase the bitterness of the strife 
and placed another barrier in the way of union between 
the Churches North and South. And one is led to ex- 
press the opinion that the zeal that was manifested by 
the Northern Churches in forcing themselves into the 
South in the manner and at the time they did, was not 
entirely holy and unselfish, and was ill calculated to fur- 
ther either the cause of the Union or religion. 37 

37 For a brief statement of the work in the South by the North- 
ern Churches, see Mcolay and Hay's "Lincoln," vol. vi, pp. 
333-338. 



110 



CHAPTER VI. 

Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

Among the Church agencies which made for patri- 
otism and loyalty during the progress of the war none 
were more influential and far-reaching than the Church 
periodicals. 

In 1860 the Methodist Episcopal Church was pub- 
lishing perodicals, to the number of twenty-two, in every 
section of the North, the total subscriptions of the vari- 
ous official publications numbering at least 400,000. * 
Besides the official journals there were a number of in- 
dependent Methodist publications, some of which rivaled 

1 The following is a list of the official publications of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, with numbers of subscribers for 1860 and 
1864 (Journal of the General Conference, 1860, pp. 332-358, 397- 
405; Journal of the General Conference, 1864, pp. 341, 345): 

I860 1864 

Christian Advocate and Journal, New York 29,000 26,500 

The Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati. . . . 31,000 33,787 

Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago 13,300 25,000 

Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis 8,016 8,204 

Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, Pittsburgh 8,367 

Northern Christian Advocate, Auburn, N. Y 

Pacific Christian Advocate, Portland, Ore 1,750 

California Christian Advocate 

The Christian Apologist (German) Cincinnati. . . 9,166 20,000 
The Methodist Quarterly Eeview, New York. . . . 4,250 1,008 

The Ladies' Eepository, Cincinnati 41,600 33,500 

Missionary Advocate, New York 12,700 22,862 

Sunday School Advocate, New York 208,000 229,225 

Sunday School Bell, Cincinnati 12,000 13,273 

Good News, Cincinnati 

Sonntagsglocke (German), Cincinnati 

Besides these official publications there were a number of inde- 
pendent Methodist journals, some of which were extremely influen- 
tial. They were: Zion's Herald and Wesleyan Journal, Boston; 
The Methodist (begun 1861), New York. Other independent jour- 
nals published in Montpelier, Vt. ; Rockford, 111.; and Baltimore. 

Ill 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

in importance and influence the best of the official peri- 
odicals. 

The Methodist weekly journals which had the largest 
circulation and exercised the most influence during the 
war were the Christian Advocate and Journal, of New 
York; the Western Christian Advocate, of Cincinnati; 
the Northwestern Christian Advocate, of Chicago; the 
Central Christian Advocate, of St. Louis — though hav- 
ing a small subscription, was important because of its 
location — and the independent journal Zion's Herald, 
of Boston. These are the periodicals which will occupy 
the most of our attention in the course of this chapter. 

The General Conference of 1860 had elected new 
editors for several of the above named papers. Before 
1856 most of the Church periodicals — the Northwestern 
and Northern Christian Advocates and Zion's Herald 
excepted — had been cautious and conservative on the 
slavery question. The New York and Central Advocates 
had opposed any change of the rule on slavery previous 
to the General Conference of 1856, but the General Con- 
ference of 1860 elected strong anti-slavery editors for 
both these journals, and with the new editorial adminis- 
tration a more vigorous attitude was taken, especially 
by the Neiv York Advocate, not only on the slavery 
issue, but also on all other questions agitating the Church 
and the Nation. 

All of the official Church publications, when the 
war broke out, became strong advocates of the adminis- 
tration, firm supporters of the Government, and stood 
invariably for a vigorous prosecution of the war. It 
is true that on many questions the Church journals took 
extreme radical positions. Especially was this the case 
in regard to immediate emancipation of the slaves, which 
was urged from the very outbreak of the war. All the 
Church papers supported General Fremont in his pre- 
mature proclamation, which he issued August 30, 1861, 
emancipating the slaves in his military district. "No 

112 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

public document," says the Northwestern Christian Ad- 
vocate, " issued since the commencement of the present 
war has struck upon the heart like the proclamation of 
Major General John Charles Fremont. . . . The gen- 
eral is right. The administration may not sustain him, 
but the people will. ' ' 2 Again, commenting on an article 
upon the same subject by the editor of the Western, the 
same journal says: "The editor of the Western speaks 
in decided terms of censure of the manifest attempt to 
hedge up the way and to embarrass the action of Gen- 
eral Fremont, and regrets that 'some high in authority 
and in favor with the administration have shown so 
determined a spirit to hunt him down.' In this the 
Western but echoes the views of the great Northwest. 
Never had a brave man such difficulties thrown in his 
path as Fremont . . . yet he has held his way. . . . 
The people are incensed." 3 

General Benjamin F. Butler also found favor with 
the Church periodicals because of his method of dealing 
with the slaves — classing them as contraband of war, 
and putting them to work — and his name was often 
coupled with Fremont's in the Church journals, and 
unstinted praise was dealt out to both. One writer says : 
"We ask — imploringly ask — that the Government will 
confiscate and emancipate the slaves of rebels as fast 
as our armies get to them. We hail the sentiments of 
Butler and Fremont as the day star to our Nation." 4 
It is one of the ironies of history that these two generals, 
Fremont and Butler, probably the two most corrupt 
commanders of high rank in the Union army during 
the war, should have received such high praise at the 
hands of religious journals of the North. 5 

2 The Northwestern Christian Advocate, Sept. 11, 1861. 

3 Ibid, Oct. 23, 1861. 

4 Northwestern, Oct. 16, 1861. 

5 For an impartial estimate of these two men see for Fremont, 
Rhodes, vol. iii, pp. 468-482; for Butler, Ehodes, vol. v, pp. 303- 
310, 312, 313. 

8 113 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Of all these journals mentioned only one proved at 
all disloyal, and that one was the Baltimore Christian 
Advocate; and this paper soon after the war began 
suspended publication, owing to the fact that its former 
patrons and subscribers refused longer to support it in 
its disloyal course. 6 

The Christian Advocate and Journal in many of its 
issues was devoted largely to war news. Letters from 
chaplains and soldiers appeared in almost every issue 
during the war, and in its columns appeals from the 
various societies, such as the Christian Commission, were 
willingly published. From the beginning of Lincoln's 
administration the editor placed his journal on record 
as a supporter of it. In an editorial published in the 
issue a week after Mr. Lincoln's first inauguration, the 
editor says: "The incoming Executive will have of 
necessity a difficult task to perform. Called to the head 
of the Nation at the most critical time in our history, 
confronted at once by a most extraordinary state of 
affairs, such as none of his predecessors has had to 
contend with, and having no precedents or lights to 
guide him in the perilous path of duty; embarrassed 
by the most complicated difficulties and beset on every 
hand by dangers the most imminent, with but limited 
experience in public life and thousands anxious to de- 
feat every well-meant effort he shall make to adjust the 
measures of his administration to the state of things 
existing, he is justly entitled to the sympathy and sup- 
port of every friend of the Union. . . . Under ordinary 
circumstances men may perhaps be excused for nursing 
their opposition and hostility to a political opponent. 
. . . But here is a totally changed condition of things. ' ' 
The editor closes with the sentence, "He who loves his 
party better than his country is a traitor." 7 Comment- 

6 Ladies' Repository, July, 1861, p. 446; The Methodist, Jan. 
12, 1861. 

7 Christian Advocate and Journal, March 7, 1861. 
114 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

ing on the inaugural of Mr. Lincoln, in the next issue, 
the editor says in part: "It is therefore in no spirit 
of partisanship that we congratulate the whole country 
on the successful inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. . . . 
The utterances of the inaugural address must satisfy all 
who are not perversely determined not to be satisfied, 
and inspires the real friends of the country with new 
hopes." 8 

After the defeat of Bull Run the editor showed his 
good sense and farsightedness by stating: "The defeat 
we have suffered may be of great service. We need 
more efficiency and ability in some departments of the 
Government and more unselfish patriotism in all. . . . 
We must awake to the magnitude of the contest in 
which we are engaged." 9 

Early in 1863, during that period which is known as 
the darkest period of the war, when there was consider- 
able talk of bringing the war to an end, an editorial on 
"Shall Our War Cease?" appeared in the Christian 
Advocate and Journal. In this editorial the editor be- 
gins by stating that the war is justifiable because it is 
for the defense of civil government. He then says "the 
war must be prosecuted," and the editorial closes with 
the sentence, ' ' If with vacillation in the Cabinet, treach- 
ery in the army, and jealousy in politics we have done 
so much, can we not complete the work when the powers 
of the Nation shall be fully aroused and united and 
concentrated by a sense of necessity?" 10 Again, on 
February 26, 1863, is an editorial on the "Sin of Trea- 
son," in which it is stated: "It is a solemn duty to 
preach against treason. . . . It is a sin of the deepest 
and most aggravated nature. The life of an individual 
is of unspeakable value, the life of a nation still more 
so." Also in the next issue appears another ably writ- 

8 Christian Advocate, March 14, 1861. 

9 Ibid, Aug. 15, 1861. 

10 Ibid, Feb. 19, 1863. 

115 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

ten editorial on "Respect for Government, 11 and in the 
issue following an editorial on "The Pulpit and Re- 
ligious Press." The editor begins by asking, "In such 
a crisis as this, what is the duty of the pulpit and the 
religious press?" He then answers the question by 
stating: "They will lamentably fail before God and 
humanity if they do not employ all their powers in 
arousing the National heart and conscience to an un- 
derstanding and recognition of God, of justice, of prin- 
ciples as related to the National life. They should bring 
the American people to an earnest and active appreci- 
ation of its true character and grandeur of our strug- 
gle." 12 

Enough has been given to show the general attitude 
of this journal on National questions. It maintained a 
consistent patriotic position throughout the war. It 
was seldom critical of the administration, though it 
sometimes advocated radical measures, especially in ref- 
erence to emancipation, and later in reference to the 
freedmen. 

This paper had a large circulation in Eastern New 
York and Pennsylvania and throughout New Jersey, the 
largest except one of any Methodist journal of this pe- 
riod. It was at that time, as it is still, the most im- 
portant weekly paper in the denomination. Just before 
the war the independent journal The Methodist was es- 
tablished, largely in opposition to the Christian Advo- 
cate and Journal, and it also had a considerable circu- 
lation throughout this same territory. 13 The Methodist 
was considered by some to be lacking in patriotism, and 
was classed, in one instance at least, with papers of 

11 Ibid, March 5, 1863. » Ibid, March 12, 1863. 

13 "Life of Edward Thomson, 7 ' by Thomson, pp. 145-152. 
This writer states that the Methodist was started to oppose the 
Christian Advocate in its radical position on the slavery issue, but 
the war coming on soon after its establishment, its editors very 
wisely dropped the slavery issue, became a supporter of the Govern- 
ment, and took up Lay Representation in the General Conference as 
its chief Church issue. 

116 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

doubtful loyalty, 14 but any impartial investigation of 
its columns would find little to warrant such a classi- 
fication. It was more conservative on the slavery ques- 
tion than its official rival, the Advocate and Journal, 
but not less loyal. 

The Western Christian Advocate, published in Cin- 
cinnati, was considerably more outspoken in its patri- 
otism than the Christian Advocate and Journal. Its 
editor, Dr. Charles Kingsley (to May, 1864), was more 
of the belligerent type than Dr. Thomson, and many 
of his articles and editorials are of the "fire-eating" 
kind. On April 24, 1861, the Western Christian Advo- 
cate editorially stated: "The state of the country ab- 
sorbs all other topics at present. People talk nothing 
else, read nothing else, think nothing else; so, yielding 
to the universal demand, we devote a large share of our 
paper to such information as the people demand." 15 
In this same issue is another editorial, headed "The 
Union Forever," and still another, addressed to the 
farmers, in which they are urged "to plant largely" 
. . . "raise all you can," and "save all you raise," 
so that**the country may not be short of provisions to 
care for the increasing army. Commenting on the Bat- 
tle of Bull Run in one of the July numbers, 10 the editor 
lays the blame of the Union defeat to the fact that 
the battle was fought on Sunday. He bases' his argu- 
ment on the fact that the soldiers were tired out and 
needed Sunday for rest; that if they had waited until 
Monday, the presence of General Johnston's forces 
would have been found out; and also, if it had not 
been Sunday, "those congressmen and their wives who 
went out to see the show would have been home, where 
they ought to have stayed," and so would not have 
added to the general panic. 

14 Central Christian Advocate, Dec. 25, 1862. 

15 Western Christian Advocate, April 24, 1861. 

16 Ibid, July 31, 1861. 

117 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

In August, 1861, 17 the editor heads an editorial, "En- 
listments and Be-enlistments, " in which he shows the 
advantages of the three-months' men re-enlisting, and 
ends the editorial with, "We recommend to able-bodied 
and patriotic young men everywhere, where circum- 
stances will allow it, to enlist rapidly till half a million 
are thus enrolled." Again the editor says, through the 
columns of his paper: "We say, let the war be pushed 
with all possible vigor . . . 700,000 men should be 
in the field within a month, and another 500,000 should 
be preparing. . . . Had we a son of sufficient age, we 
should not hesitate a moment to send him to the field 
of battle in such a cause; indeed, we should urge him 
to go at his country's call, and should he fall in de- 
fending his country's flag, we should feel that he never 
would find a better time to die." 18 

At the session of the Ohio Conference in the fall of 
1861, Dr. Kingsley spoke before that body, defending 
his course in giving so much space in his paper to the 
cause and service of patriotism, and at the various ses- 
sions of the Ohio and Indiana Conferences the paper 
received their indorsement. In 1862 the Cincinnati 
Conference stated in a series of resolutions, "As a Con- 
ference we feel increasing confidence in the prudence, 
sagacity, earnestness, and fearlessness of Dr. Kingsley in 
these times of great ecclesiastical and political trials, 
and would hereby fully indorse the course of this worthy 
patriot." 19 

In the issue of October 16, 1861, is an editorial ap- 
peal to all Methodist people to help the Government 
supply the soldiers with blankets, "If you have no 
blanket or blankets you can spare, send along a quilt 
or a half dozen of them." 

As has previously been stated, the Church has made 

"Ibid, Aug. 7, 1861. "Ibid, July 31, 1861. 

"Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1862, p. 11; also 1863, p. 25; 
1861, pp. 13, 14. 

118 



Methodist Periodicals During the War, 

a hero out of Fremont, and on his removal from com- 
mand of the Western army in the fall of 1861, the 
administration was severely criticised by the Church 
press. The Western Christian Advocate had to say of 
it, " Unless there are reasons for this step which the 
public has not yet understood, it (the removal of Fre- 
mont) will be set down as the chief of a pretty exten- 
sive catalogue of blunders. ' ' 20 In another column of that 
same issue is another editorial, addressed to the West 
and the Northwest, in which the editor states, although 
condemning the removal of Fremont, yet he would by 
no means advocate insubordination to the Government, 
and he would advise the people of the great West and 
Northwest to stand by the Government, even though 
they may be disappointed at some of its actions. He 
further states that this editorial has been induced from 
certain statements made by Western letter writers, say- 
ing that the people would not submit to Fremont's re- 
moval. 

The issue of December 11, 1861, contains an appeal 
to the subscribers to renew the paper, in the course of 
which it is stated: "A few — thank God! the number 
is small indeed — will discontinue the paper because it 
has insisted from the beginning that the Union must 
be preserved at all hazards. We can well afford to 
spare the names of all such persons. A man who can 
any longer doubt the propriety of standing firmly by 
the country is not fit to live in it, and ought to leave 
his country for his country's good." . . . 

The editor of the Western Christian Advocate had 
no use for any paper or person that would not sup- 
port the Government. Several times he takes up arms 
against the Cincinnati Enquirer. In the December 24th 
issue, 21 concerning this paper he says: "It is but occa- 
sionally that we pay any attention to the attacks of the 
Cincinnati Enquirer. As a general rule it is safe to 

20 Western, Nov. 13, 1861. 21 Dec. 24, 1861. 

119 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

pursue the course which the Enquirer condemns. . . . 
The great offense of the Western Christian Advocate 
in the eyes of the Enquirer is that it has always been, 
and always expects to be, devoted unconditionally to 
the preservation of the Union. ' ' The New York Herald 
comes in for condemnation also, at the hands of this 
doughty preacher-editor, for its lack of support of the 
Government. He states: "The business of the hour 
is the saving of the country, not the stirring up of dis- 
cord among ourselves; and the man who stops to howl, 
while others are trying to work, is, if anything, only a 
wolf of a patriot." "He is simply wishing to fix his 
fangs on the vitals and fatten on the spoils that may 
come to him of a ruined country. ' ' 22 The Chicago Times 
and the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury are also con- 
demned for the same reason and in the same vigorous 
manner. 23 

It is doubtful whether the Government during these 
troublesome times had a more loyal supporter than the 
Western Christian Advocate and its editor. Its patron- 
izing territory included Southern Indiana and Ohio, 
where a considerable opposition party had developed, and 
where the secret societies opposed to the war were the 
most vigorous. The "Copperhead" element was per- 
haps strongest in this region, and the stanch patriotic 
attitude of this paper doubtless had considerable influ- 
ence in keeping the Methodist people loyal. 

We close these comments on this paper by quoting in 
full an especially vigorous and eloquent editorial en- 
titled ' ' Attention ! Young Men, ' ' which is a call to 
young men to enlist: "The index finger on the great 
dial-plate that counts and reveals the movement of ages, 
to-day points to the hour in which your Nation's doom 
for the next thousand years is cast; and it is for you, 
young man, to say what that doom shall be. Shall it 
be Union, Peace, Brotherhood, Liberty, Freedom, and 

22 Western, July 16, 1862. 23 Ibid, Jan. 7, 1863. 

120 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

equalizing, humanizing Christianity? Or shall it be 
disunion, war, selfishness, slavery, and a besotted, bar- 
barous, brutalizing, bastard corruption and perversion 
of our holy religion? You, young man, must decide it. 
... Do you ask what you can do ? The very question 
is an implied disgrace, either to your manhood or to 
your intelligence. When your Government is nearly 
throttled by treason, and calling for strong hands to 
strike down the traitors, you wait, lazily — to sell tape 
and pins, or retail billet paper and quills, or make en- 
tries in business account-books, or show bonnets and rib- 
bons to sauntering damsels ! . . . Will you leave your 
country in the hour of her peril to be defended by 
strangers, or to fall, and crush you in her fall? While 
you might be heroes such as earth's history has never 
yet shown, will you stand behind counters, or sit in 
offices and nurse your inefficient hands, or wait for trade 
and gossip ? Is this the destiny for which your mothers 
bore you ? Is this the duty for which God, in His great 
mercy, created you, and with His boundless grace re- 
deemed you? Is it for this that your country has edu- 
cated you? Shame on such dastardly good-for-nothing- 
ness! 

"Come up to the help of your country! Enlist in 
her armies ! Fill up the numbers of that host that shall 
swear allegiance to patriotism and duty, and that shall 
tread treason and traitors under their feet as they would 
tread the life out of serpents and scorpions. 

"Your country calls! Quick, be ready! Come to 
the help of your land against the mighty and diabolical 
minions of treachery and rebellion! One man now en- 
listed is worth a score in six months ! Come now to the 
armies. ' ' 24 

The next periodical we will consider is the Central 
Christian Advocate, published at St. Louis. The con- 
ditions under which this periodical was published dur- 
24 Western Christian Advocate, Aug. 6, 1862. 

121 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

ing the war were considerably different than those of the 
New York or Cincinnati papers. This was due to the 
fact that it was published in slave territory, and also 
to the fact that the number of members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in its patronizing territory was very 
small, the membership in Missouri being only about six 
thousand. These conditions necessarily made the con- 
ducting of the Central Christian Advocate a very diffi- 
cult task, and for some time during the first months of 
the war it was rather doubtful whether it could live 
under these adverse conditions. 

Early in 1861 it was stated that "the religious serv- 
ices of the Methodist Episcopal Church are mostly sus- 
pended outside of St. Louis, and that the ministers were 
temporarily leaving the State." Indeed, plans were 
made early in 1861 by the Book Agents at Cincinnati 
to have "the books of the Central Christian Advocate 
and all movables pertaining to the office brought to that 
city," and made the proposition to divide the subscrip- 
tion list between the Western and the Northwestern Ad- 
vocates. To this plan the plucky editor, who was then 
nearly seventy years of age, refused to agree, saying 
"he would defend the books with pistols till the last 
moment. ' ' The editor had, however, made arrangements 
to issue his paper from Alton or Springfield, 111., if he 
should find St. Louis untenable. 25 

The editor of the Central was Dr. Charles Elliott, 
who had been placed in this position by the General 
Conference of 1860. He had had considerable experi- 
ence in editorial work, having been for twenty-five years 
connected with the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, and 
had also written extensively on the anti-slavery contest 
in the Church. Though old in years, he still had plenty 
of the fire of youth remaining, and conducted his paper 
in this critical period and under these peculiarly diffi- 

25 Central Christian Advocate, May 29, 1861. Quoted in Zion's 
Herald, June 5, 1861. 

122 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

cult circumstances with skill and with no semblance of 
fear. 

To show the attitude of this paper and the spirit 
of its editor, I quote the following. On April 17, 1861, 
the editor wrote an open letter to Hon. Simon Cameron, 
Secretary of War, calling to his attention certain facts, 
and offering some suggestions on the approaching crisis 
in Missouri. 26 Among other things he said: "We have 
an avowed secessionist governor, we have a Legislature 
largely secessionist, too. There is a formidable military 
organization (the Minutemen) numbering now some 
twenty-three hundred." He then goes on to state that 
"there is no more loyal people in the Union than the 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church — I say 
nothing of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South . . . 
and also that Union men of all denominations and poli- 
tics are ready to enroll themselves in a home corps." 
The letter closes by the editor introducing himself to 
Mr. Cameron in these words: "I am a stranger to you, 
but I will introduce myself and refer you to my friends 
Secretary Chase and Comptroller Whittlesey for infor- 
mation. I am an itinerant preacher of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. . . . I am now in my sixty-ninth 
year. I will enroll myself in the Union company, as I 
want to die under the Stars and Stripes, and never suc- 
cumb to a foreign flag, especially the rebel palmetto 
one." 

In this issue of the Central a week after the firing 
on Sumter 27 this editorial appeared: "If war must 
come, let Christian men be ready to sustain the authority 
and power of the United States Government. The se- 
cessionists have thrown to the winds Democracy, Whig- 
gery, Americanism, and other distinctions. Let the 
Union men as far as possible ignore technical Democracy 
and Republicanism, and cling to the National motto, 

26 Central; Zion's Herald, June 19, 1861. 

27 Central, April 17, 1861. 

123 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

E Pluribus Unum, one and indivisible, now and always. 
We cry out to all good citizens and Christians of every 
name and sect, 'Union! Union! Union!' " Again, in 
one of the issues early in 1862, 28 the editor states: "We 
throw out the gospel flag to the friends of the Union 
and of the Methodist Episcopal Church. We do not 
wish to have a dollar from any disunionist until he is 
converted. ' ' 

The whole Church in the North was interested in 
sustaining the Central Christian Advocate, and saw 
the importance of keeping alive such a journal in St. 
Louis. Appeals for the Central appeared at various 
times in the other Church papers, 29 and a number of 
Conferences passed resolutions concerning it, the fol- 
lowing from the Troy Conference being typical: 

Your committee learn with sorrow that in conse- 
quence of the ravages of civil war within the bounds 
of its patronizing territory the conditions and necessities 
of the Central Christian Advocate are such that its life 
is greatly imperiled. We believe that the discontinu- 
ance of that excellent journal at this time would be a 
calamity to the Nation as well as to the Church. The 
territory in which it circulates, once wrongfully wrested 
from the Methodist Episcopal Church, is destined soon 
to be restored. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
is so fully identified with the rebellion that its influence 
over the lovers of our National Union is doubtless gone 
forever. It would seem, therefore, that the influence of 
that noble pioneer Advocate was never more needed than 
at the present. 

We commend the adoption of the following resolu- 
tions : 

Resolved, That we have watched with interest and 
deep solicitude the course of the Central Christian Ad- 
vocate while battling manfully for God and our country 
in these trying times. 

2S Ibid, 1862; quoted in Christian Advocate, Feb. 20, 1862. 
29 Western, March 12, 1862; Christian Advocate and Journal, 
Feb. 20, 1862; ibid, March 13, 1862. 

124 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

Resolved (2), That Brother J. W. Carhart be ap- 
pointed to solicit subscriptions to the Central among the 
preachers of the Conference. 30 

Early in 1862 the agents of the Western Methodist 
Book Concern, and the several editors connected there- 
with, also adopted resolutions concerning sustaining the 
Central Christian Advocate, and also appointed a com- 
mittee to prepare an appeal for it to be sent throughout 
the Church. 31 

The Northivestern Christian Advocate, published in 
Chicago, also occupied a strategic position, being in the 
very center of the great Northwest, large numbers of 
whose citizens became hostile to the administration dur- 
ing the course of the war. Dr. T. M. Eddy, the war- 
editor of this journal, was a vigorous writer, and his 
editorials leave no doubt as to his position on public 
questions. In the issue of January 2, 1861, just after 
President Buchanan had announced that the Executive 
had no power to coerce a State, he points out the two 
courses open to the United States Government. The 
first, a stern refusal to permit secession; and the en- 
forcement of the Federal laws at all hazards. This 
course, he states, will probably lead to civil war. The 
second course is "to permit the Cotton States to secede 
peaceably, thus conceding the right of States to retire 
at will." Of these two courses, the editor says, he be- 
lieves the first is demanded "by the original compact, 
by the obligation of the Executive, the welfare of our 
people, and the accomplishment of our National mission. 
. . . Senators Douglas and Johnson have taken the 
true position when they declare it is better to sacrifice 
a million lives than to submit to treason, for which se- 
cession is only a synonym." 32 

In another long editorial in the fall of 1861, on "The 

30 Troy Conference Minutes, 1862, p. 38. 

31 Adopted at Chicago, Feb. 19, 1862 ; Western, March 5, 1862. 

32 Northwestern Christian Advocate, Jan. 2, 1861. 

125 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Northwest and the War," the editor points out that 
the Northwest is dependent upon keeping the Missis- 
sippi open, so that their products of wheat, corn, cattle, 
and hogs may find a ready market. The question, he 
says, is one of life or death for the Northwest. "We 
can not afford a peace on any terms, other than the 
re-establishment of our National Union." 33 In this 
same issue is another editorial, on the "Concessions of 
Peace," in which the editor answers the "men of pro- 
slavery sympathies," who "cry lustily against war and 
would have us concede the claims of our Southern 
brethren." In this article he sums up the concessions 
the North must make if peace were to be had. (1) All 
laws forbidding the master to carry slaves across Free 
States must be abrogated. (2) The right of temporary 
residents with slaves must be conceded. (3) Slavery 
must be recognized as having peculiar sacredness. (4) 
Slavery must be admitted into the Territories. (5) All 
laws which interfere with the inalienable rights of the 
sons of the cavaliers to i ' damn their own Niggers ' ' must 
be repealed. (6) The Northern conscience must be cor- 
rected — the freedom of opinion, the freedom of speech, 
the freedom of discussion must cease. "We must not 
think or say or write against slavery." Then he asks: 
"Having yielded all this, what have we left? Man- 
hood, government, religion all gone, and the mere privi- 
lege of subsistence by tolerance? He who can propose 
peace at such a surrender is only fit to be the body 
slave of Chestnut or Wigfall." 34 

Again says the Northwestern: "We can afford ten 
years of war if necessary, we can afford to give up each 
alternate acre of ground and each second foot of town 
property, we can afford to give each third man, but we 
can not afford to accept a peace upon any other basis 
than that of the Union preserved, with equal rights for 

33 Northwestern, Oct. 30, 1861. 
84 Ibid. 

126 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

all its citizens." Early in 1861 the editor stated editori- 
ally: ''And now our duty is clear. The Government 
must be maintained at any hazard. Let party dissen- 
sions be forgotten, and from Eastport to San Francisco 
let there be but one party; namely, that of devotion to 
the Government, the honor of our flag, and vindication 
of right." 35 

That the policy of the Northivestem Christian Advo- 
cate met the approval of the Methodist people in the 
Northwest is shown by the fact that the year 1860 closed 
with 13,300 subscribers, and by 1864 the subscription 
list had increased to 25,000. 36 

Zion's Herald, the independent Methodist journal 
published in Boston, maintained its reputation for in- 
dependence during the war, but was not less loyal than 
the other Methodist journals. Like all the other Metho- 
dist papers, it devoted large space to war items and cor- 
respondence and frequent patriotic editorials. Its edi- 
tor, Dr. E. 0. Haven, was the cousin of Dr. Gilbert 
Haven, chaplain of the Eighth Massachusetts, both of 
whom afterwards became bishops in the Church. The 
following short extract from an editorial will show the 
war spirit of Zion's Herald: "How can the United 
States, with any respect for itself as a nation, allow its 
own disintegration? ... If there is to be a divorce, 
let the ceremony be at least as difficult as the marriage 
contract?" 37 

Other Methodist journals — the Buffalo, Pittsburgh, 
and Pacific Christian Advocates, and the German paper, 
the Christian Apologist — were all loyal supporters of 
the Government and were conducted in a similar man- 
ner to the journals already noted. The Buffalo paper 
in March, 1861, said: "We are gratified to be able to 
present our readers this early with the inaugural address 

35 Quoted in the Methodist, May 4, 1861, from the Northwestern. 

36 General Conference Journal, 1860; pp. 397-400; 1864, pp. 335- 
341. m Zion's Herald, April 21, 1861. 

127 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

in full of President Lincoln. It bears the unmistakable 
impress of a mind deeply sensible of the weighty re- 
sponsibilities of the occasion, and a fearless and un- 
changeable resolution to meet them." 38 This paper 
headed its editorial column with an engraving of the 
flag, followed with the motto, "Let the Battle Rage! 
The Union! The Constitution! Both now and for- 
ever!" 39 Again this paper editorially states: "If civil 
war must come, then we say, Let it be an earnest one ! 
Let the chastening rod descend with a will." The 
Pittsburgh Advocate expressed itself in a similar way 
on the National issues, and received the approbation of 
its patronizing Conference for its patriotic stand. 40 Of 
the Pacific Christian Advocate and its editor we find 
this statement: "The talented editor of the Pacific Ad- 
vocate finds treason in Oregon. His noble and patriotic 
stand for the Union is worthy the support of all loyal 
Americans." 41 The Christian Apologist deserves men- 
tion for its patriotic influence among German Metho- 
dists. The Ladies' Repository also, though purely a 
literary journal, had frequent editorials indicative of 
patriotism 42 and loyalty. 

Of the Methodist press as a whole a journal of an- 
other denomination stated in December, 1861: "The 
masses of the Methodists on this side of Mason and 
Dixon's line are loyal to the country, and are excelled in 
their patriotism by no other Christians. The tone of the 
Methodist press is high ; and the Advocates, we are glad 
to say, without exception give no uncertain sound." 43 

The papers of the Methodist Church South were all 
supporters of the Confederacy. Among the leading 

3S Buffalo Christian Advocate, quoted in Christian Advocate, 
March 14, 1861. 

39 The Methodist, May 4, 1861. 

40 Minutes of the Pittsburgh Conference, 1863, p. 21. 

41 Western Christian Advocate, July 4, 1861. 

4 - Ladies' Bepository, April, 1861; ibid, Aug., 1861, p. 512. 
48 Beligious Telescope, quoted by Christian Advocate, Dec. 5, 
1861. 

128 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

journals were the Nashville Christian Advocate, the 
St. Louis Christian Advocate, the New Orleans and Ken- 
tucky Advocates. Of these papers the Western Christian 
Advocate early in 1861 had to say, "In not one single 
paper of the Church South that reaches this office have 
we seen a single word from the editors favorable to the 
Union. ' ' 44 Before the war had progressed long, however, 
most of these papers were compelled to suspend publi- 
cation, which was also true of the papers of other de- 
nominations of the South. Indeed, as early as June, 
1861, the following Southern Baptist papers had sus- 
pended publication: The Western Watchman, of St. 
Louis ; the Southern Baptist, Charleston, S. C. ; the Vir- 
ginia Baptist; the Baptist Messenger, Memphis, Tenn. ; 
the Northwestern Virginia Baptist, and the Baptist 
Standard, of Nashville. 45 

Another matter in reference to the Church periodi- 
cals in connection with the war which ought not to be 
omitted was their large circulation among the soldiers 
and throughout the armies. The furnishing of good 
reading matter for the soldiers found early advocates, 
dating from the very beginning of the war, and the 
Church papers immediately took up the matter. In De- 
cember, 1861, a chaplain writes: "I thank you from 
my heart for the Christian Advocate and Journal. It 
sheds a glorious and wholesome influence among us. 
I don't see how I could dispense with it." 46 Most of 
the papers offered a special rate to soldiers, covering 
only the cost, and appeals from time to time appeared 
in their columns asking their readers to send the papers 
to their friends in the army. One such appeal states, in 
part: "In many cases a number of soldiers have gone 
from the same town or neighborhood. The citizens of 
such a town or neighborhood might collect what money 

44 Western, March 6, 1861. * Zion's Herald, June 12, 1861. 
46 Christian Advocate, December 19, 1861; also ibid, Oct. 23, 
1863, and Feb. 12, 1862. 

9 129 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

they could for this object, and the papers can be sent 
all in one package to the company or regiment. ' ' 47 
Many Churches and Conferences took up this matter, 
and considerable money was collected for this purpose. 
Thus a Church in Lebanon, 111., sent $50 to have five 
thousand copies of the Western Christian Advocate sent 
to the army; and another Church, in Windham, Ohio, 
sent $23 for the same purpose. 48 The ladies of Ferguson 
Township, Center County, Pa., sent $12 to supply the 
Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment with the Christian 
Advocate and Journal. 

The Cincinnati Conference at its session in 1863 
passed the following resolutions relative to supplying 
the soldiers with religious reading, which are typical of 
those passed by other Conferences: 

Whereas, A large proportion of our citizen soldiery 
now in the field are either members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church or have been reared Methodistically ; 

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Church to furnish 
them with such religious reading as will both interest 
and profit them in their hours of privation, endurance, 
and loneliness in the camp and hospital ; 

Resolved, That this is a most successful way to keep 
up the animus of the army and make it invincible to 
the enemy; 

Resolved, That the Cincinnati Annual Conference 
recommend the pastors of the various English Churches 
in its bounds to take up collections as early as October, 
to purchase religious literature for our brave soldiers; 
and 

Whereas, The United States Christian Commission 
is the speediest way of communication with our soldiers, 
and has received the approval and sanction of the Presi- 
dent and Government officials; 

Resolved, That the funds so collected be forwarded 
to W. T. Perkins, Cincinnati, treasurer of the Western 
branch of the Christian Commission; 

47 Ibid. 

48 Western, Dec. 2, 1863. 

130 



Methodist Periodicals During the War. 

Resolved, That this Conference heartily approve the 
proposal of the Book Agents at Cincinnati and New 
York to sell at one-half the published prices Methodist 
books and periodicals, for circulation among our soldiers 
in army and navy. 49 

Z ion's Herald was particularly active in this matter, 
and in almost every issue collections for this purpose 
from the various Churches are noted. In the issue of 
June 19, 1861, appears this item: 

We have received the following sums to pay for the 
Herald to be sent to the soldiers: 

Collection, Maiden, Mass $7 00 

Individual subscriptions 6 00 

Again, in the July 3d (1861) issue: 
Collections in New Hampshire Con- 
ference $22 05 

Wesley Church, Bath, Maine 6 35 

Individual subscriptions 16 00 

The German weekly, the Apologist, was also active in 
this matter. Dr. Wm. Nast, the editor in 1861, was try- 
ing to raise $1,000 for the distribution of the Apologist 
among the German soldiers. His appeal closes with: 
"Our plan is to make up $1,000 as a fund for sending 
the Apologist into the different regiments. The Germans 
have already taken about $300 worth of shares. Who 
will help us?" 50 

The Tract Society was also active in sending their 
publication, Good News, to the army. In 1863 51 it is 
stated that about five thousand copies of this paper 
were sent regularly for distribution among the soldiers 
and sailors, and the publishers reported in 1864 that 
" 50,000 copies go monthly to the army and navy." 52 

49 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1863, p. 33. 

50 Western, Oct. 23, 1861; also Christian Advocate, Nov. 14, 
1861. 

51 Christian Advocate, March 26, 1863. 

52 General Conference Journal, 1864, p. 336. 

131 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Another fact which ought to be noted in this con- 
nection is that at the General Conference of 1864 three 
of the war editors of Methodist journals were elected to 
the episcopate — Dr. Edward Thomson, of the Chris- 
tian Advocate and Journal; Dr. Charles Kingsley, of the 
Western; and Dr. D. W. Clark, editor of the Ladies' Re- 
pository — and later Dr. E. 0. Haven, of Z ion's Herald. 
This fact is certainly indicative of the general approval 
of the Church of the way in which these editors had 
conducted these Methodist papers during the trying 
times of the war. 



132 



CHAPTER VII. 

Methodist Chaplains in the Union Armies. 

The need of chaplains in the army was early recog- 
nized by the War Department. Less than a month after 
the first call for troops by President Lincoln, a general 
order was issued by the War Department, May 4, 1861, 
stating that one chaplain would be allowed to each regi- 
ment, who should be appointed by the regimental com- 
mander, on the vote of the various officers of the regi- 
ment. This order also stated that the chaplain must be 
a regularly ordained minister and should receive the 
pay and allowance of a captain of cavalry. 1 

During the progress of the war numerous other or- 
ders were issued, and several Acts of Congress passed, 
bearing upon the subject of chaplains. On August 19, 
1861, Congress passed an act "providing for the better 
organization of the military establishment." Section 7 
of this act refers to chaplains, ratifying the order of 
May 4th, but leaving the method of their selection to 
the President. This act specifically states, also, that 
none but regularly ordained ministers of some Christian 
denomination shall be eligible. 2 

It was early brought to the attention of the President 
"by Christian ministers and other pious people" 3 that 
chaplains simply for the regiments were not sufficient, 
but that they were especially needed at the hospitals, 
for the sick and wounded soldiers. The President fully 
recognized this need, and appointed a number of chap- 
lains for hospital service, stating, however, in his letter 

lli Official Records," III, vol. ii, p. 154. 

2 Ibid, Series III, vol. i, p. 398. 3 Ibid, p. 721. 

133 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

appointing them, that there was no law conferring the 
power upon him to appoint them, but he asks them to 
"voluntarily enter upon and perform the appropriate 
duties of such position," promising that he will "recom- 
mend that Congress make compensation therefor at the 
same rate as chaplains in the army." 4 The President, 
true to his promise, in his message to Congress, Decem- 
ber 3, 1861, calls attention to the need of chaplains for 
hospitals, and recommends that the men who are already 
engaged in hospital service as chaplains be compensated 
the same as chaplains in the army, and also that pro- 
vision be made for providing regular hospital chaplains. 5 
In this simple recommendation we catch a glimpse of 
the great heart of the President, who, while he is con- 
sidering the great affairs of State, yet does not forget 
the sick and wounded soldiers languishing in the hos- 
pitals. Following this recommendation of the Presi- 
dent's, Congress on May 20, 1862, passed an act legal- 
izing the action of the President and providing a chap- 
lain for each permanent hospital. 6 

The war had not been in progress very long before 
some discreditable facts were brought to light regarding 
the appointment of chaplains. As early as August 1, 
1861, it was learned that certain men had received ap- 
pointments as chaplains who had never been recognized 
by any Church as ministers. 7 In one instance, it is said, 
an actor bore the name, received the pay of chaplain, 
and in another regiment a French cook was mustered 
as a chaplain in order to meet the expense of keeping 
him. 8 The paymaster general of the army, Benjamin 
F. Larned, in a letter to Senator Henry Wilson, Decem- 
ber 5, 1861, says regarding this state of affairs: "I re- 

4 "Official Records," III, vol. i, p. 271. 

5 ' ' Papers and Messages of the Presidents, ' ' Richardson, vol. vi. 
p. 48; also "Official Records," III, vol. i, p. 712. 
8 Ibid, III, vol. ii, p. 67. 

7 Christian Advocate and Journal, Aug. 1, 1861. 

8 "Official Records," III, vol. i, p. 72. 

134 



Methodist Chaplains in the Union Armies. 

gret to say that very many holding this position are 
utterly unworthy, and while I would not deprive our 
regiments of the service of a minister of the gospel, 
I think none should be appointed who did not come 
recommended by the highest ecclesiastical authority with 
which they are connected." 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was not entirely 
free from the taint of this disgraceful condition. It 
seems that certain local preachers (lay preachers) of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Pennsylvania espe- 
cially, had obtained ordination at the hands of an in- 
dependent Congregational Church, for the sole purpose 
of becoming chaplains in the army. 9 This action, how- 
ever, was denounced by the authorities of the Church 
and by the Church periodicals. On February 10, 1862, 
the Methodist preachers of Philadelphia and vicinity 
passed resolutions condemning this action of the local 
preachers and declaring that the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was not responsible for, and could not recognize, 
their ordination as ministers of the Church. 10 

In order to safeguard the office of chaplain from 
being held by such unworthy persons, Congress on July 
17, 1862, passed an act declaring that no person shall 
be made a chaplain ''who is not a regularly ordained 
minister of some religious denomination and who does 
not present testimonials of his present good standing, 
with recommendations for his appointment as an army 
chaplain from some authorized ecclesiastical body or 
from not less than five accredited ministers belonging 
to said religious denomination." 11 This act also fixes 
the compensation of all chaplains "in the regular or 
volunteer service or army hospitals at one hundred dol- 
lars per month, and two rations per day." Just how 
much influence the pay exercised in inducing ministers 

9 Christian Advocate and Journal, Feb. 20, 1862. 

10 Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, Feb. 10, 1862. 

11 < ' Official Eecords, ' ' Series III, vol. ii, p. 278. 

135 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

to enter the army as chaplains would be difficult to de- 
termine; but, considering the hardships and the danger 
they would be compelled to undergo, it would not seem 
that one hundred dollars per month would offer much 
inducement. However, it is true that, in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at least, during the war the supply 
of ministers was greater than the demand, and at most 
of the Annual Conferences candidates for the ministry 
were rejected for want of Churches to which to send 
them. 12 Doubtless some of these young men's spiritual 
ears were rendered a little more acute to the call of 
the ministry because of the prospect of gaining a chap- 
laincy. 

On April 9, 1864, Congress approved another act, 
determining the rank of the chaplain. 13 It stated that he 
should be placed on the rolls next after the surgeon. At 
the opening of the war the Government was new at the 
business of organizing regiments and getting them prop- 
erly officered, and the office of chaplain seemed to puz- 
zle them more than any other. Some thought that the 
chaplain was not an officer in the generally accepted 
military sense, while others held that the chaplain held 
a separate rank entirely, 14 and it was not until this 
act of April 9, 1864, that the rank of chaplain was 
clearly determined. Section 2 of this act fixes a dis- 
ability pension of twenty dollars per month for chap- 
lains, and Sections 3 and 4 prescribe his duties. He 
was to make monthly reports to the adjutant general 
of the army regarding the moral condition of the men 
under his care; he was to hold appropriate religious 
services at the burial of soldiers, and the act also pre- 
scribed that he should conduct public religious services 
at least once each Sabbath, when practicable. 

So much for the acts and orders regulating chaplains. 

12 Western Christian Advocate, May 21, 1862. 

13 ' < Official Eecords, ' ' Series III, vol. iv, pp. 227-228. 

14 Ibid, pp. 809, 1207. 

136 



Methodist Chaplains in the Union Armies. 

We now turn to a consideration of Methodist Episcopal 
chaplains in particular. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church at the very begin- 
ning of the war indicated her willingness to co-operate 
with the Government in supplying chaplains for the 
army and navy. Various organizations of Methodist 
ministers, 15 as well as many individual ministers, 16 early 
expressed willingness to serve as chaplains. The bishops 
also stated on various occasions their willingness to re- 
lieve such ministers from their Churches and appoint 
them as chaplains in the army. 17 In Philadelphia a 
committee of preachers was appointed to receive the 
names of those who should volunteer to go as chaplains, 
and to confer with the governor of the State in regard 
to their appointment. 18 Similar action was also taken 
by the Methodist preachers of Boston. At a meeting of 
the Preachers' Meeting of Boston and Vicinity in 
August, 1862, a motion was made that the governor be 
informed "that several of the Methodist clergymen of 
this vicinity are ready to enter the army as chaplains. ' ' 10 
It is stated on good authority that Rev. Gilbert Haven, 
of the New England Conference, was the first chaplain 
commissioned in the war. 20 In most instances, however, 
the chaplain was selected directly by the regiment, and 
a chaplain's selection would therefore depend upon his 
patriotism and his popularity with the officers and men 
of that particular regiment. In very many instances 
where a considerable number of the rank and file were 
members or attendants of a certain Church, they would 
very naturally select the minister of that Church as 
their chaplain. In a few instances ministers enlisted 

15 Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, April 29, 1861. 
16 Christian Advocate and Journal, May 2, 1861. 
"Minutes Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, May 20, 1861. 
18 Ibid, May 6, 1861. 

19 Minutes Methodist Preachers' Meeting of Boston, August, 
1862. 

20 Minutes New England Conference, 1896, pp. 130, 131. 

137 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

as privates, and were afterwards selected by their regi- 
ments as chaplains. 

I have found no little difficulty in compiling a list 
of Methodist chaplains who served during the war. I 
have succeeded, however, in making a list that is prac- 
tically complete. This list has been obtained by going 
through the lists of appointments of the various Con- 
ferences for the four years of the war. 21 By this method 
four hundred and forty-two names were obtained. The 
list has been made more complete by a careful search 
through the files of the Church periodicals, for the war, 
especially the Christian Advocate and Joufnal and the 
Western Christian Advocate. A number of names would 
not appear in the list of Conference appointments as 
chaplains for the reason that many served as chaplains 
less than a year, and if their term of service happened 
to come between Conferences their names would not ap- 
pear in the Conference appointments. 

Doubtless a number are omitted in the following list, 
but I am certain the number is not large. 

The list, by Conferences, is as follows : 

Baltimore 2 Iowa 17 

Black Eiver 8 Kansas 11 

Central German 1 Kentucky 4 

Central Illinois 13 Maine 4 

Central Ohio 13 Michigan 8 

Cincinnati 21 Minnesota 10 

Bes Moines 2 Missouri and Arkansas 13 

Betroit 12 Nebraska 1 

East Baltimore 17 Newark 12 

East Genesee 6 New England 10 

East Maine 9 New Hampshire 10 

Erie 10 New Jersey 11 

Genesee 10 New York 8 

Holston 1 New York East 2 

Illinois 21 North Indiana 13 

Indiana 21 North Ohio 12 

21 Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in the United States, 1861-1865, 3 vols. 

138 



Methodist Chaplains in the Union Armies. 

Northwest Indiana 11 Southern Illinois 17 

Northwest Wisconsin 4 Troy 10 

Ohio 17 Upper Iowa 2 

Oneida 6 Vermont 7 

Philadelphia 21 West Iowa 2 

Pittsburgh 18 West Wisconsin 5 

Providence 5 West Virginia 13 

Rock Eiver 13 Wisconsin 5 

Southeast Indiana 9 Wyoming 6 

This list totals 487 names, and in addition to these 
there are seventeen or twenty names not listed under 
any Conference, including Bishop Ames, who was ap- 
pointed chaplain of an Indiana regiment, and several 
local preachers, who obtained a chaplaincy in a legiti- 
mate manner, and also several loyal ministers from the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at least nine from 
Kentucky, two from Virginia, and two or more from 
Missouri. The total number of Methodist chaplains who 
served in the Union armies during the War of the Re- 
bellioncan be safely put at 510. 

There were four Conferences which furnished twenty 
or more chaplains : the Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, and 
Philadelphia; and five Conferences which furnished fif- 
teen or more: the East Baltimore, Iowa, Pittsburgh, 
Ohio, and Southern Illinois. It is interesting to note 
that these Conferences, furnishing the largest number of 
Methodist chaplains, were, with the exception of the Iowa, 
near the seat of the war. The four States furnishing the 
largest number were : Illinois, 64 ; Ohio, 63 ; Indiana, 54 ; 
and Pennsylvania, 54 ; these four States alone furnishing 
235, or nearly half the total number. It is also inter- 
esting to note the large number, comparatively, fur- 
nished by the small Border Conferences : West Virginia, 
13; Missouri and Arkansas, 13; Kansas, 11; and Ken- 
tucky, which only had nineteen preachers in all, in 1861, 
furnished four. 

As a general rule the chaplains were faithful in the 
performance of their duties. In many instances a Regi- 

139 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

mental Church 22 was formed, which held regular serv- 
ices; and where a regiment remained long in camp the 
chaplain usually improved the time by holding a revival 
meeting. At the close of such a meeting in an Indiana 
regiment 23 forty-eight soldiers were received into the 
regimental Church. In a New York regiment a revival 
meeting was kept up thirty nights in succession in a 
tent furnished for that purpose by General Hunter, and 
one hundred and twenty-five soldiers professed conver- 
sion. The chaplain stated that, as a result of the meet- 
ings, there had been a perfect revolution in the regiment, 
and that profanity had nearly ceased. 24 In an Ohio 
regiment, whose colonel was a well-known Methodist 
preacher, Colonel Granville Moody, a regimental Church 
was formed called the "Church of the Living God," 
and at one of the evening services of this soldiers' 
Church the colonel himself baptized nine soldiers. 25 An- 
other chaplain, of a Pennsylvania regiment, reports that 
within a week he baptized twenty-eight soldiers from his 
regiment. Instances of this kind were not at all un- 
common, as the files of the various Church papers for 
the war bear witness, for in almost every issue are ac- 
counts of some such religious meeting as I have de- 
scribed. 

Many of the chaplains kept their friends in the North 
informed as to what was going on in their regiments, 
through letters written to the Church papers. 26 Some 
of the chaplains were regular correspondents, and their 
communications were given prominent places in the 
papers. Through these letters the chaplains also made 
known the needs of the men under their care, and made 
appeals for such things as tents for services, literature 

-Zion's Herald, Nov. 13, 1861. 

23 Christian Advocate and Journal, Nov. 7, 1861. 

24 Ibid, March 26, 1862. 

25 Western Christian Advocate, Feb. 19, 1862. 

20 Ibid, Oct. 23, 1861 ; Nov. 27, 1862, etc. ; and also the files of 
all the other Church papers. 

140 



Methodist Chaplains in the Union Armies. 

for the men, and other provisions and comforts. The 
chaplains were also the distributing agents for the Amer- 
ican Bible Society, the Tract Society, and the various 
commissions. 27 If he was faithful in his work, the chap- 
lain had more than he could attend to, holding the re- 
quired services, tending the sick, comforting those boy 
soldiers who were homesick and disheartened, distribut- 
ing good reading matter, and a hundred other duties, 
all of which contributed to the effectiveness of the army. 
A number of chaplains after retiring from the army be- 
came special agents of the Christian Commission or Bible 
Society, or missionaries to the South or to the freedmen. 
27 Western Christian Advocate, Jan. 15, 1862. 



141 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The War Bishops. 

In 1861 the Methodist Episcopal bishops and their 
residences were as follows: 

Thomas A. Morris Springfield, Ohio. 

E. S. Janes New York. 

Levi Scott Wilmington, Del. 

Matthew Simpson Evanston, 111. 

0. C. Baker Concord, N. H. 

Edward R. Ames Indianapolis, Ind. 

The Methodist bishops had no settled territory over 
which they presided, but traveled from one end of the 
country to the other in the regular performance of their 
duties. This brought them in direct contact with all 
sections of the country and made them familiar with 
all shades of opinion in respect to loyalty or disloyalty 
to the United States Government, and it also gave them 
great opportunities of being of service to the country 
in regard to stirring up patriotism among the people. 
To indicate the wide range of territory covered by a 
Methodist bishop in the course of but a single year, I give 
this table showing the itinerary of the six bishops for 
the year 1863 by Conferences : 

Bishop Morris . . . Kentucky Feb. 26-28. 

West Virginia Mar. 18-23. 

North Indiana Apr. 9-13. 

North Ohio Sept. 2-7. 

Indiana Sept. 16-21. 

Northwest Indiana Sept. 30-Oct. 5. 

Bishop Janes. . . . Pittsburgh Mar. 18-23. 

Providence Mar. 27- Apr. 1. 

Wyoming (Pa.) Apr. 9-13. 

Black Eiver (N. Y.) Apr. 15-23. 

Oregon Aug. 12-17. 

California Sept. 2-8. 

142 



The War Bishops. 



Bishop Scott East Baltimore Mar. 4-11. 

New Jersey Mar. 18-20. 

New England Apr. 1-7. 

New York Apr. 15-22. 

East Genesee (N. Y. and Pa.).. Sept. 9-14. 

Central Illinois Sept. 15-21. 

Rock Eiver (111.) Sept. 23-28. 

Wisconsin Oct. 1-6. 

Illinois Oct. 8-14. 

Bishop Simpson .. Baltimore Mar. 4-10. 

Philadelphia Mar. 18-27. 

Vermont .' Apr. 15-20. 

Maine Apr. 22-27. 

East Maine Apr. 29-May 

Erie (Pa. and Ohio) July 15-21. 

West Wisconsin Sept. 2-7. 

Central Ohio Sept. 9-14. 

Detroit Sept. 16-22. 

Michigan Sept. 23-29. 

Genesee (N. Y.) Oct. 1-7. 

Bishop Baker.. . .Newark (N. J.) Mar. 25-31. 

New York East Apr. 1-7. 

New Hampshire Apr. 8-13. 

Troy (N. Y.) Apr. 15-21. 

Oneida (N. Y.) Apr. 22-24. 

Cincinnati (Ohio) Sept. 2-9. 

Ohio Sept. 9-14. 

Southeastern Indiana Sept. 16-21. 

Southern Illinois Sept. 23-26. 

Bishop Ames . . . .Missouri and Arkansas Mar. 4- . 

Kansas Mar. 11-16. 

Nebraska Mar. 25-29. 

Rocky Mountain July 10-13. 

Western Iowa Sept. 2-5. 

Iowa Sept. 9-15. 

Upper Iowa Sept. 16-21. 

Minnesota Sept. 30-Oct. 

Southwest Wisconsin Oct. 7-10. 



3. 



was 



Every year the itinerary of each bishop 
changed, so that during the five years of the war each 
Bishop visited practically every State in the North. For 
instance, Bishop Simpson from 1861 to 1865 held Con- 
ferences in twenty-one Northern States. 1 



1 General Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1861-1865, 
3 vols. 

143 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

It is the intention of this chapter to show that these 
six war bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church ex- 
ercised an important and far-reaching influence in the 
interest of loyalty and patriotism. Every one of the 
six was unquestionably loyal from the outbreak of the 
war and, as the war progressed, became increasingly so. 

Bishop Morris, the senior bishop, lived in Springfield, 
Ohio. He was considerably older than the other bishops, 
and was therefore relieved of some of the heavier duties 
attendant upon his office by his younger colleagues, but 
he seems to have never failed to lift his voice in favor 
of the preservation of the Union and against slavery 
whenever the opportunity presented itself. One of the 
Church periodicals stated in 1861 that "the star-spangled 
banner was continuing to wave from the flagstaff of our 
venerable senior bishop, Thomas A. Morris." 2 At the 
session of the Erie Conference in the fall of 1861, over 
which Bishop Morris presided, when the report on the 
State of the Country was read, and a motion was offered 
to send a copy of the resolutions to President Lincoln, 
Bishop Morris remarked, "with his characteristic good 
feeling, 'That 's right, give "Old Abe" a lift.' " 3 

In 1863 Bishop Morris presided at the Western Vir- 
ginia Conference, and in an address before that body 
stated that he was a native of Western Virginia, which 
he deemed far higher honor than to be a native of the 
1 ' Old Dominion, ' ' for the Old Dominion was now in re- 
bellion, and he was for the Union, without any ifs or 
ands or buts.* 

The next bishop in order of seniority was Edmund 
S. Janes, whose residence was New York City. During 
the first year of the war Bishop Janes was visiting the 
Methodist missions in Western Europe. Soon after the 
inauguration of President Lincoln, the bishop refers to 

2 Christian Advocate and Journal, June 6, 1861. 
8 Ibid, September 12, 1861. 
* Western Christian Advocate, April 15, 1863. 
144 



The War Bishops. 

the oncoming struggle in a letter written to one of his 
children. He says : ' c I expect you have heard the drum 
very often lately. I am sorry men will be so wicked 
as to make it necessary to fight. Our beloved country 
is passing through great trials. I believe Providence 
will take care of our noble, free institutions. I expect 
the world will sing ' Hail ! Columbia ! ' many generations 
hence." 5 During his absence in Europe, and especially 
in England, Bishop Janes was enabled to perform some 
patriotic service for his distracted country. His biogra- 
pher states that "in his public addresses and private 
conversations he did not lose sight of the one absorbing 
topic of the hour with every American, at home and 
abroad. He did all he could to promote a correct un- 
derstanding of the great controversy between the North 
and the South." 6 In a letter to the bishop soon after 
his return to America, Dr. John McClintock, who was 
then pastor of the American Church in Paris, wrote: 
"Your services in England were exceedingly useful, 
both to our Church and to the country. The apprecia- 
tion of them in the newspapers is flattering to you." 7 
The following is a partial report of a speech the 
bishop delivered in Newcastle, England. 8 Referring to 
the war now being waged in the United States, he said : 
"This question ... is one which, I think, claims the 
sympathy, interest, and prayers of all philanthropists, 
and I believe I am justified in saying that in the United 
States one of the principal apprehensions they have felt 
has been that there might be an unhappy influence on 
the question from this country. We know that Victoria 
was queen, but some claim that Cotton was king, even 
in England. (Cries of 'No, No.') Very well, if you 
do n 't acknowledge his authority, all right. I ought to 

5 " Life of Bishop Janes," Bidgeway, pp. 248, 249. 

6 "Life of Bishop Janes," Bidgeway, p. 251. 

7 Ibid. 

8 Christian Advocate and Journal, August 22, 1861. Copied 
from the Northern Daily Press (England). 

10 145 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

say that this apprehension has been lessened very much 
by the recent action of the Government and the tone of 
your public press." 

In this connection I will mention the patriotic serv- 
ices of Dr. John McClintock, in Paris. Though not a 
bishop, he was a minister of great influence and high 
standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the 
service he performed during his residence in Paris was 
considerable. 

Just before the outbreak of the war Dr. McClintock 
had become the pastor of the American Church in Paris. 
His biographer states that "in all the dark period from 
1861 to 1863 his voice rang out clear in its predictions 
of our final success, his courage made others courageous, 
his hopefulness gave others hope." 9 

In April, 1861, Dr. McClintock delivered an address 
before the Wesleyan Missionary anniversary in Exeter 
Hall, London, in which he took occasion to say: "The 
Times said, the day before yesterday, just in the words 
that I will now quote, 'The great Republic is no more.' 
Shall I go home and tell my friends that I do n 't know 
whether you believe with the Times or not? I am in- 
clined to think you do not ; but if you have the slightest 
disposition to believe any such doctrine as that, let me 
tell you, 'Lay not the flattering unction to your souls.' 
No, I don't believe that Britons will rejoice to see the 
day when the 'great Republic' shall be no more. (Tre- 
mendous cheering.) But if they shall, let me tell you 
the day of their rejoicing is very far away." Further 
on in this happy speech he says: "Suppose that we in 
New York, editing papers ... at the time of your re- 
bellion in the East Indies, should have made use of such 
an expression as that. I am not afraid of talking about 
the Times because I am not an Englishman, and if we had 
printed for two or three days that Great Britain was no 

""Life and Letters of the Rev. Dr. McClintock," Crooks, p. 
284. 

146 



The War Bishops. 

more, and that the diadem was about to fall from the 
head of Victoria because there was a rebellion in India, 
it would have been quite a parallel case. . . . 

"Now let me say to you, Mr. President, and this 
vast audience of Wesleyan ministers, and good, sensible, 
intelligent people, do not let your political newspapers 
or your politicians debauch your intellects or morals 
upon the present exciting American question. For the 
first time in the whole history of the human race a people 
to the extent of twenty millions have risen up to say, 
'We will forfeit our prestige before the world; we will 
jeopard our name even as a great republic; we will 
run the risk even of a terrible civil war such as the 
world has never seen; we will do all this sooner than 
we will suffer that human slavery should be extended 
one inch.' (Tremendous cheering.) I am in earnest 
about that point, and I do not want you to forget it; 
and if you read the Times you will need to remember 
it." 10 . . . 

Commenting on the effects of this speech, the London 
Watchman says, "We never before saw Exeter Hall in 
such a tumult of acclamation." 11 

To speak in detail of the patriotic activity of Dr. 
McClintock in France and England would occupy too 
much space in this brief account. His efforts in behalf 
of his country's cause was not limited to patriotic 
speeches alone. He translated De Rasparin's book, "The 
Uprising of a Great People," and published it in Lon- 
don, paying the expense with money sent by friends of 
New York. 12 He also published in London the speech 
of Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president of the Con- 
federacy, delivered on March 21, 1861, in which slavery 
is declared the cornerstone of the new government. 13 
The New York World also credits him with an article 



10 I ( 



Life and Letters of the Eev. Dr. McClintock, ' * Crooks, pp. 
285-287. ""Life of McClintock," Crooks, p. 287. 

12 Ibid, p. 289. 13 Ibid, p. 288. 

147 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War, 

in L'Arne de la Religion, 1 * a Paris newspaper, in which 
he vigorously supports the cause of the Union. 

In connection with the ''Trent affair" Dr. McClin- 
toek was also able to render some valuable service to 
the country. Mr. Thurlow Weed, then in Paris, went 
over to London to assist in settling the misunderstand- 
ing over this affair, and took with him a letter of Dr. 
McClintock's to Rev. William Arthur, an influential 
Wesleyan minister, who introduced him to Mr. Kinnaird, 
M. P., through whom he received early introduction to 
Lord Palmerston and the Earl of Shaftesbury. 15 

Speaking of the services of Dr. McClintock, the New 
York World says: "What Motley had done in England 
by his able letter to the London Times, Dr. J. McClintock 
has done and is doing for France. Availing himself of 
all proper means for instructing the people, not of 
France alone but of England also, he leaves them no 
excuse for ignorance of the principles for which we 
wage our war against armed rebellion. The Doctor has 
no diplomatic position in the country of his present 
residence, but his fertile pen and thorough scholarship 
enable him to do a work for which diplomacy might find 
itself important in instructing and molding that public 
opinion which statesmen can not long neglect." . . . 

Harper's Weekly has this to say of the services of 
Dr. McClintock: "One of our most valiant and faithful 
champions in Europe since the war began is the Rev. 
Dr. McClintock. . . . The Doctor is a noble-hearted 
Christian patriot, and his labors have been untiring for 
the welfare of his country. . . . Through his influence 
and speeches the great body of the Wesleyans in Eng- 
land have been our firm and steadfast friends." 16 

14 Western Christian Advocate, July 21, 1861. Quoted from 
New York World. 

15 For Mr. Weed's statement see "Life of Dr. McClintock," 
Crooks, pp. 312, 313. For Dr. McClintock's correspondence with 
William Arthur see pp. 292-312. 

16 Harper's Weekly, May 21, 1864, p. 323. 
148 



The War Bishops. 

Of all the Methodist ministers, Bishop Janes and Dr. 
McClintock rendered the most conspicuous patriotic 
service abroad. 

At home Bishop Janes was especially active in the 
work of the Christian Commission. He was one of its 
charter members, 17 and took an active and effective part 
in the direction of its great work. In December, 1861, 
he writes from Washington that he has been gathering 
information "on subjects connected with the Christian 
Commission," 18 where he had been sent by the commis- 
sion to make any necessary arrangements with the Gov- 
ernment for the carrying on of the work among the 
soldiers. He reported to the commission in January, 
1862, that he had been well received by the Secretary of 
War, who gave him the following note: 

Washington City, January 24, 1863. 
Bishop Janes is authorized to state that he has re- 
ceived assurance from the Secretary of War, that every 
facility consistent with the exigencies of the service will 
be afforded to the Christian Commission, for the per- 
formance of their religious and benevolent purposes in 
the armies of the United States, and in the forts, garri- 
sons, and camps, and military posts. 

E. M. Stanton. 19 

Again, in June, 1862, he writes: "I have been en- 
gaged much of my time with the Christian Commission. 
We have had three sessions, and have another this even- 
ing." 20 

In December, 1864, Bishop Janes, together with 
Bishop Lee, of Delaware, and Horatio Gates Jones, of 
Philadelphia, were appointed as a delegation by the 
Christian Commission to visit the Union prisoners in 
Southern prisons, in order to distribute "food, clothing, 
medicines, and religious publications." The consent of 

"Annals of the Christian Commission, Moss, p. 106. 
18 ' ' Life of Bishop Janes, ' ' Ridgeway, p. 251. 
19 Annals of the Christian Commission, Moss, p. 131. 
80 "Life of Bishop Janes," Ridgeway, p. 256. 

149 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

the War Department and General Grant was readily 
obtained, and every effort was made by the Federal 
authorities to assist them to carry out their mission, but 
the Confederate authorities refused to permit the visit. 21 
Bishop Janes remained an executive member of the com- 
mission until the war closed, giving to it all the time 
he could spare from his regular duties. 

Bishops Scott and Baker were not so conspicuous in 
their patriotic activities as perhaps some of the other 
bishops, although we have an abundance of evidence 
that they were intensely loyal. In the various Confer- 
ences over which they presided they took an active and 
effective part in any patriotic service or flag-raising, 22 
and never missed an opportunity of denouncing secession 
and slavery. 23 

Of the six war bishops of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Bishops Ames and Simpson undoubtedly ren- 

21 For all the correspon deuce relating to the incident between 
the Christian Commission and the War Department, and also be- 
tween the delegates of the commission and the Confederate authori- 
ties, see Annals of Christian Commission, Moss, pp. 189-198. 

The note informing the committee of the Confederate authori- 
ties ' refusal to permit the visiting of Union prisoners is as follows : 

Office U. S. Assistant Agent fob Exchange of Prisoners. 

Flag of Truce Steamer New YorTc. 

Varina, James River, Va., Jan. 21, 1865. 

Bev. Bishop E. S. Janes, D. D. 
Bt. Bev. Bishop Alfred Lee, D. D. 
Horatio Gates Jones. 

Gentlemen : I have the honor to inform you that I am directed 
by the Confederate authorities to notify you that they deem it in- 
expedient to grant your request for permission to visit the Federal 
prisoners held by them, at this time. Your communication will 
doubtless be answered by letter at my next interview with the Con- 
federate agent for exchange. If so, I will promptly forward the^ 
same to you. I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Jno. E. Mulford, 
Lt. Col. $• U. S. Assistant Agent for Exchange. 

"Minutes New York East Conference, 1863, p. 8. 

23 Western Christian Advocate, Oct. 22, 1862. 

150 



The War Bishops. 

dered the largest and most effective service for their 
country. The work of Bishop Simpson is perhaps more 
widely known than that of Bishop Ames, due, no doubt, 
to his excellent biography written by Dr. George R. 
Crooks, and also to the fame which he achieved as an 
orator and great preacher. But the patriotic work of 
Bishop Ames was not any less than that of Simpson, 
and it is unfortunate that no life of him has ever been 
written. 24 

Bishop Ames lived in Indianapolis during the war, 
which was the very center of a large and growing Meth- 
odist population, and from the opening of the war he 
took a prominent part in all kinds of patriotic activity. 
In April, 1861, we find him preaching at Camp Morton 
before the soldiers 25 and in the course of his sermon 
uttering these eloquent words: "There has been one 
grand Union convention, the proceedings of which have 
not been reported by the telegraph. It was held amid 
the fastnesses of the everlasting hills. The Rocky Moun- 
tains presided and the mighty Mississippi River made 
the motion and the Allegheny Mountains seconded it, 
and every mountain and hill and river and valley in 
this vast country sent up a unanimous voice — Resolved, 
That we are one and inseparable, and what God has 
joined together no man shall put asunder." 

Bishop Ames was the only Methodist bishop who was 
appointed to the post of chaplain in the army. He be- 
came chaplain of an Indiana regiment, and in the fall 
of 1861 he announced his intention of devoting his at- 
tention during the ensuing winter to the moral and re- 
ligious interests of the soldiers in camp. 26 . This inten- 
tion he seems to have carried out, for from time to time 

24 The writer made an effort to locate the private papers of 
Bishop Ames, but all his efforts proved of no avail. 

25 Christian Advocate and Journal, May 6, 1861, quoted from the 
Indiana American. 

26 Christian Advocate and Journal, Oct. 31, 1861. 

151 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

during the winter of 1861-62 we find records of his 
having preached to the soldiers in the various camps 
and forts. 27 

Not only was Bishop Ames active in serving his 
country in a private capacity, but on several occasions 
his services were sought by the United States Govern- 
ment. In January, 1862, Bishop Ames and Hon. Ham- 
ilton Fish, of New York, were appointed by the War 
Department as commissioners to visit the Union pris- 
oners at Richmond . . . and elsewhere . . . and re- 
lieve their necessities and provide for their comfort, at 
the expense of the United States." 28 This appointment 
was accepted by Bishop Ames, and he immediately made 
his way to Washington to confer with the Secretary of 
War, Mr. Stanton, regarding his duties as commis- 
sioner. 29 The War Department made provision to estab- 
lish a depot of clothing at Fortress Monroe, to be drawn 
upon by these commissioners 30 for supplying the wants of 
the prisoners. The commissioners went immediately to 
Fortress Monroe and made known their commissions to 
the Confederate authorities at Norfolk, by whom the 
matter was referred to Richmond. A reply finally came 
refusing to admit the commissioners through the Con- 
federate lines, 31 but expressing readiness to negotiate 
for the general exchange of prisoners. The commission- 
ers then opened negotiations, which resulted in an equal 
exchange of prisoners. But the Confederates having 
three hundred more prisoners than the National Govern- 
ment, they proposed to release these on parole if the 
United States Government would agree to release three 

27 Ibid, Feb. 13, 1862. 

28 " Official Kecords," Series II, vol. iii, p. 113. 
39 Ibid, p. 216. 

30 Ibid, p. 222. For other orders and correspondence relating to 
these commissioners see ibid, pp. 223-224, 230, 248, 251, 253, 
261, 262. 

31 For all Confederate correspondence relating to these negoti 
ations and to this commission see ' ' Official Eecords, ' ' Series II. 
vol. iii, pp. 786-791, 821, 822. 

152 



The War Bishops. 

hundred of their men that might next fall into its 
hands. 32 

The appointment of this commission, and especially 
the placing of Bishop Ames upon it, aroused considerable 
comment in the South. The Norfolk Bay-Book has this 
to say of the appointment of this commission: ''The 
exquisite modesty of this proposition to send official 
inspectors of our defenses and general condition entitle 
Mr. Stanton to the reputation of being the most impu- 
dent man among all King Lincoln's proverbially impu- 
dent subjects." 33 Relating to Bishop Ames's appoint- 
ment, I have found a very interesting letter to Jefferson 
Davis, written by an officer in the Confederate army, 
who was also an ex-minister in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 34 He writes this letter to warn Mr. Davis 
against allowing Bishop Ames to enter the Confederate 
lines. He says he knows Bishop Ames, and that "he 
has been for many years a shrewd and patent politi- 
cian." He then reviews the recent controversy within 
the Methodist Church, especially along the border, and 
then states: "In all this protracted controversy Bishop 
Ames's sympathies, and indeed most of our bishops', 
were with the North. I know Bishop Ames to be an 
uncompromising anti-slavery man, not to say abolitionist. 
He, with other members of the bench of bishops, sought 
to impress upon the present President of the United 
States and his Cabinet, upon their accession to power, the 
fact that the Methodist Church, very numerous in the 
North and West, had peculiar claims upon the Govern- 
ment for a liberal share of the spoils of office, as they 
had so largely contributed to Mr. Lincoln's election." 
Further on he states: "I am positively certain from 
personal knowledge that Bishop Ames, with many others 

32 Moore's "Rebellion Record," vol. iv, p. 32. 

33 From the issue of January 30, 1862. Moore 's i ' Rebellion Rec- 
ord,'' vol. iv, p. 18. 

34 For the text of this letter see "Official Records," Series II, 
vol. iii, p. 787, 788. See Appendix B. 

153 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

whom I might name of high position in our Church in the 
North, have aided most fearfully, by the influence of 
their position and their known sentiments to augment 
the power of the abolition party in the North. ' ' And in 
conclusion he makes this appeal: "Allow me, in conclu- 
sion, Mr. President, to warn you against this astute 
politician, who in the garb of a Christian minister and 
with the specious plea of 'Humanity' upon his lips, 
would insinuate himself into the very heart of that Gov- 
ernment whose very foundation he would most gladly 
sap and destroy." 

Whether this letter had any influence in the decision 
of the Confederate Government in respect to these com- 
missioners, is impossible to determine, but it serves to 
show the feeling in the South concerning Bishop Ames 
and the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

That Bishop Ames was trusted by the Federal author- 
ities, and especially by the Secretary of War, is further 
shown by the fact that in August of 1862 Governor 
Morton, of Indiana, intrusted him to carry certain im- 
portant letters to Stanton 35 respecting drafts. 

Bishop Ames, like the other bishops, also took a 
prominent part in the patriotic demonstrations at the 
various Conferences over which he presided, making 
patriotic speeches and offering patriotic prayers. 36 In 
the General Conference of 1864, which met in Philadel- 
phia, he was made chairman of the committee appointed 
bj^ that body to carry an address to President Lincoln, 37 
thus recognizing him as the Church's leader in her pa- 
triotic activities. 

There remains yet for us to consider Bishop Matthew 
Simpson's large and important activity in relation to 
this struggle. In many respects his is the most con- 

33 "Official Records," Series III, vol. ii, p. 375. 

36 Minutes Detroit Conference, 18G1; also New York East Con- 
ference, 1865, pp. 3, 4. 

37 General Conference Journal, 1864, p. 378. For the address 
and Lincoln 's reply see Chapter IV. 

154 



The War Bishops. 

spicuous Methodist name in relation to the war and 
the Nation. His intimate personal friendship with Pres- 
ident Lincoln, and also with other members of the Cabi- 
net, and his overwhelming patriotic eloquence, has given 
his name lasting connection with the Civil War. 

I can do no better here than to reproduce some of 
the testimony which has been collected by Dr. Crooks 
in his life of Bishop Simpson. The first I quote is 
from the recollections of Gen. Clinton B. Fisk: 

In April, 1861, after the call for 75,000 men, the 
bishop met Lincoln in the President's office. Several 
members of the Cabinet dropped in, Bates, Blair, Cam- 
eron, and Seward. The bishop expressed the opinion 
that 75,000 men were but a beginning of the number 
needed; that the struggle would be long and severe. 
Mr. Seward asked what opportunity a clergyman could 
have to judge such affairs as these. Judge Bates replied 
that few men knew so much of the temper of the people 
as Bishop Simpson; Montgomery Blair sustained the 
view of Judge Bates. A Cabinet meeting followed. 
After it was over, Lincoln and Simpson remained to- 
gether quite a long time. The bishop gave him, in de- 
tail, his opinion of men throughout the country whom 
he knew. 

After Mr. Stanton came into the Cabinet the bishop 's 
relations with the President became more intimate. The 
bishop was used by Mr. Lincoln to modify the war sec- 
retary's views, and to gain points which he wished to 
reach. For instance: Stanton was disposed to treat 
with great severity the border rebels who stayed at home 
and gave aid and comfort to the enemy. Lincoln was 
inclined to treat them leniently. The bishop was of the 
same mind as the President, and was sent to Stanton 
to bring him over to the President's way of thinking. 

In the summer of this same year, 1862, the bishop 
had another interview with Mr. Lincoln, confined to the 
point of the President's duty to issue a proclamation 
setting the slaves free in the rebellious States. Subse- 
quently Mr. Lincoln showed him the proclamation; the 
bishop was delighted with it. When it was read in the 

155 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Cabinet meeting, Mr. Chase suggested its last sentence. 
"Why," replied Lincoln, "that is just what Bishop 
Simpson said." In their interview prior to the meeting 
of the Cabinet the bishop had suggested that there ought 
to be a recognition of God in that important paper. 38 

I reproduce also here the personal recollections of Dr. 
Thomas Bowman, who was chaplain of the Senate in 
1864-65, and who writes from personal observation: 

In 1864-65, as I spent several months in Washington, 
I often heard members of Congress and other distin- 
guished visitors in the city say that they had heard 
the President frequently express his great respect for, 
and his confidence in, Bishop Simpson. It was well 
known that the President occasionally sent for the 
bishop, in order to procure information about the affairs 
of the Nation. The President said in substance : "Bishop 
Simpson is a wise and thoughtful man. He travels ex- 
tensively over the country, and sees things as they are. 
He has no ax to grind, and therefore I can depend upon 
him for such information as I need." 

On one occasion, with two or three friends, I was 
conversing with Mr. Lincoln near the distant window 
in the Blue Room, when unexpectedly the door opened 
and Bishop Simpson entered. Immediately the Presi- 
dent raised both arms and started for the bishop, almost 
on a run. When he reached him he grasped him with 
both hands and exclaimed, "Why, Bishop Simpson, how 
glad I am to see you ! " In a few moments we retired, 
and left them alone. I afterwards learned that they 
spent several hours in private, and that this was one 
of the times when the bishop had been specially asked 
by the President to come to Washington for such an 
interview. 

At another time, under very different circumstances, 
I had an opportunity to witness the kind feeling which 
the President evidently cherished for the bishop. Simp- 
son delivered his wonderful lecture on "Our Country" 
in one of our churches in Washington. Lincoln, with- 
out any mark of distinction, was in the great crowd of 
hearers. I happened to be near him, and could see his 

88 Crooks 's "Life of Simpson," pp. 373, 374. 

156 



The War Bishops, 

every movement. I never saw a hearer who gave more 
marked evidence of a personal interest in a speaker than 
the President gave that evening. He joined most 
heartily in the frequent and sometimes prolonged ap- 
plause. At one time, as the bishop was speaking of the 
wonderful opportunity that our country affords to young 
men, he paused for a moment, and said, "Why, it is 
commonly reported that a rail-splitter has been elected 
President of the United States!" This, of course, 
brought down the house, and I was particularly pleased 
to see with what almost boyish enthusiasm the President 
joined in the tremendous applause. 39 

Bishop Simpson was probably the most eloquent 
preacher in the Methodist denomination, and deserves 
to rank with the greatest in the country. 

In a sermon delivered in Chicago in the first year 
of the war, occurs this sentence: "We will take our 
glorious flag — the flag of our country — and nail it just 
below the cross ! There let it wave, as it waved of old. 
Around it let us gather: First Christ's, and then our 
country's." 40 

The most conspicuous oratorical efforts of Bishop 
Simpson during the war, however, were not sermons, 
but lectures on patriotic themes. The effect of these 
lectures upon his hearers was often marvelous. In 1864 
he delivered one of his lectures at Elmira, N. Y., and 
a college president who heard it stated afterwards, ' ' The 
Government should employ that man to visit all the 
principal cities in the loyal States and pronounce that 
discourse; it would bring down the price of gold." 41 
Harper's Weekly thus describes the effect of his lecture 
which he delivered in Pittsburgh in October, 1864: 
"The effect of his discourse is described as very re- 
markable. Toward the close an eye-witness says: 'Lay- 
ing his hand on the torn and ball-riddled colors of the 

39 Crooks 's "Life of Simpson," pp. 371-373. 

40 Christian Advocate and Journal, May 23, 1861. 

41 Western Christian Advocate, August 31, 1864. 

157 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Seventy-third Ohio, he spoke of the battlefields where 
they had been baptized in blood, and described their 
beauty as some small patch of azure, filled with stars, 
that an angel had snatched from the heavenly canopy 
to set the stripes in blood. With this description began 
a scene that Demosthenes might have envied. All over 
the vast assembly handkerchiefs and hats were waved, 
and before the speaker sat down the whole throng arose 
as if by magic influence, and screamed, and shouted, and 
saluted, and stamped, and clapped, and wept, and 
laughed in wild excitement. Colonel Moody sprang to 
the top of a bench and called for "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," which was sung, or rather shouted, until the 
audience dispersed.' " 42 

This great speech of Bishop Simpson played a rather 
conspicuous part in the campaign of 1864. It was ar- 
ranged to have the lecture delivered in New York just be- 
fore the Presidential election. Mr. Ward Hoyt, who had 
the preparation for the meeting in charge, thus writes 
to Bishop Simpson: "All of your friends agree that 
you should speak before the election. Speaking at that 
time, until the full report, promised in the Tribune, 
Times, Herald, and Evening Post, is equivalent to speak- 
ing to the Nation." The speech was accordingly de- 
livered on November 3, 1864, in the Academy of Music, 
New York. Of the great mass of people who came to 
hear it, the New York Tribune states: "Such an audience 
gathered at the Academy of Music as seldom or never 
before was crowded within its walls. Long before the 
time announced for the lecture to commence, the spa- 
cious building was crowded from pit to dome — the seats 
were soon filled, the standing room all taken up, and 
still the crowd poured in till no more room was left 
in which to squeeze another person." 43 

42 Harper's Weekly, October 15, 1864, p. 659. 

43 New York Tribune, Nov. 7, 1864. Quoted in Crooks 's ' ' Life 
of Simpson," pp. 378, 379. For an outline of this great lecture 
see Appendix C. 

158 



The War Bishops. 

That Bishop Simpson was close to President Lincoln 
is further evidenced by the fact that he was chosen to 
give the funeral oration over the body of the great mar- 
tyred President at Springfield, 111. 44 

During the early part of the war Bishop Simpson 
lived in Evanston, 111., but during the last year of the 
war he changed his residence to Philadelphia. After 
he took up his residence in Philadelphia he became very 
actively engaged in the work of the Christian Commis- 
sion, delivering speeches on several occasions, 45 one of 
them being the closing anniversary of the commission, 
where he delivered the closing address. 46 He was also 
elected one of five trustees to close up the affairs of the 
commission after its work was completed. 

In the General Conference of 1864 there were three 
new bishops elected: Edward Thomson, Charles Kings- 
ley, and D. W. Clark; but as their work as bishops of 
the Church covered less than a year of the war, and as 
the work of each of them in relation to the war has 
already received full treatment in the chapter on Church 
Periodicals, I have chosen to conclude the study of the 
war bishops with Bishop Simpson. 

I close this chapter with a quotation from an address 
by Dr. J. P. Newman, afterwards himself a bishop, de- 
livered in New Orleans, March 22, 1864, in which he 
makes what Messrs. Nicolay and Hay term a well- 
founded claim : 47 ' ' The Methodist Church has been unan- 
imous and zealous in the defense of the Union. Her 
bishops, her ministers, and her laity have nobly responded 
to the call of their country in this hour of her peril. 
The voice of Simpson has been heard pleading eloquently 
for the union of the country. Ames, as patriotic as wise, 
has not hesitated to lend his aid to our unfortunate pris- 

44 For the funeral oration see Appendix D. 

45 Annals of the Christian Commission, Moss, p. 132. 

46 Ibid, pp. 271-279. For the other speeches and proceedings on 
this occasion, held Feb. 11, 1866, see ibid, pp. .234-288. 

47 ' ' Life of Lincoln, ' ' Nicolay and Hay, vol. vi, p. 324, Note. 

159 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

oners in Richmond, and to give his sons to the army. 
Janes has found no narrow field for his philanthropic 
heart in the labors of the Christian Commission. All 
our Church papers and periodicals have given an uncom- 
promising, zealous, persistent support to the Govern- 
ment, and have thrown the whole weight of their influ- 
ence, intelligent as it was potent, on the side of the 
Union." 48 

48 McPherson 's ' ' Eebellion, ' ' pp. 523, 524. 



160 



CHAPTER IX. 

Methodist Co-operation With Interdenomina- 
tional Organizations. 

A study of the activities of a Church in its relation 
to the Civil War would be incomplete without it takes 
into consideration some of the great interdenominational, 
charitable, and semi-religious organizations which sprang 
up during the war to meet the various needs and emer- 
gencies which the new conditions presented. At least 
three such organizations will be the subject of our con- 
sideration in the course of this chapter. They are the 
United States Christian Commission, the American Bible 
Society, and the various Freedmen's organizations and 
commissions, which sprang up in considerable numbers 
in all parts of the North. 

The work of all these various organizations has re- 
ceived full treatment in other places, but the object of 
this study is to show how individual Churches co- 
operated with and worked through them. 

THE UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

The United States Christian Commission was organ- 
ized at the Young Men's Christian Association in New 
York, November 14, 1861. 1 Previous to this the Young 
Men's Christian Association in the various cities had 
been active in providing supplies and comforts for the 
new recruits, and also individual Churches, through their 
local organizations, had done the same. The idea of 
uniting these various agencies into one organization was 

1 Annals of the United States Christian Commission, Moss, p. 
103. 

11 161 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

suggested by Mr. Vincent Collyer, of New York, who 
had been engaged in this kind of work among the soldiers 
enlisted in New York City or passing through it on their 
way to the front. 2 

This organizing convention elected twelve men as a 
commission, including four ministers, representing the 
various denominations, Bishop Edmund S. Janes, D. D., 
of New York, being the Methodist representative. 3 The 
commission afterwards was enlarged to forty-seven, 
Bishop Matthew Simpson and General Clinton B. Fisk, 
besides Bishop Janes, being among the Methodist mem- 
bers of this enlarged commission; these three also being 
members of the Executive Committee. 

The work of the Christian Commission has been fully 
described in the ''Annals of the United States Christian 
Commission, ' ' by Rev. Lemuel Moss, and in "Incidents 
of the United States Christian Commission," by Rev. 
Edward P. Smith. During the four years, 1862, '63, 
'64, and '65, the commission received in cash $2,524,- 
512.56, most of which was obtained by public collections 
in churches and at special meetings. The commission 
sent out its appeal to the ministers and Churches through 
the Church papers, as the commission published no organ 
of its own. 4 

As an example of the readiness with which people 
contributed money to the commission, I relate the follow- 
ing incidents : In the village of Curwensville, Clearfield 
County, Pa., a meeting was held on Thanksgiving Day, 
1863, attended by about 150 people, and addressed by 
the Methodist minister. A collection was taken for the 

2 "Life of George H. Stuart," B, E. Thompson, p. 129. 

'Annals of the United States Christian Commission, p. 106. 
The original members of the commission were Bev. Eollin H. Neale, 
D. D., and Chas. Demond, Boston; John H. Hill, Buffalo; John V. 
Farwell, Chicago; Bev. L. M. B. P. Thompson, H. Thane Miller, 
Cincinnati; Bev. S. H. Tyng, D. D., Benj. F. Manierre, and Bev. 
Bishop E. S. Janes, New York; Geo. H. Stuart and John P. Cro- 
zier, Philadelphia; Mitchell H. Miller, Washington. 

*iua, p. 522. 

162 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

commission amounting to $600, and in the following May 
another meeting, in the same place, contributed $857.25, 
and still later a resident of the same village sent $1,000 
to the commission. 5 The largest single contribution 
given to the commission was secured by Rev. C. C. 
McCabe, a Methodist minister, who had been a chaplain 
of an Ohio regiment, captured and confined in Libby 
Prison, and during the closing years of the war acted 
as an agent of the Christian Commission. This gift 
amounted to $10,000 and was given by a farmer, Mr. 
Jacob Straw, of Morgan County, 111. 6 

Public collections for the commission were quite gen- 
erally taken in the churches on the several fast and 
thanksgiving days which were observed during the war. 
The receipts from Thanksgiving collections in November, 
1863, alone, amounted to $83,400. 7 

The Churches not only co-operated with the commis- 
sion by giving liberally toward its support, but also by 
sending "delegates" into the field. Delegate was the 
name given a person sent out to the army by the Chris- 
tian Commission. Their duties were to visit "hospitals, 
camps, and battlefields for the instruction, supply, and 
encouragement and relief of the men of our army ac- 
cording to their various circumstances; distributing 
stores where needed in hospitals and camps ; circulating 
good publications amongst our soldiers and sailors; aid- 
ing chaplains in looking after the spiritual welfare of 
the men in camp and in the hospitals ; encouraging and 
helping soldiers to communicate with their friends, and, 
if necessary, writing for them; discouraging vice of 
every kind. They were also to aid surgeons on the 
battlefield by removing the wounded and giving them 
food and drink, giving them religious comfort if dying, 

5 Moss, pp. 524, 525. 

6 Ibid, p. 525. Chaplain McCabe tells how he obtained this 
large gift in "Life of MeCabe," Bristol, pp. 175-180. Taken 
from McCabe 's Journal. 

7 Mois, p. 525. 

163 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

and to see that the dead had Christian burial. 8 I find 
the following in the Minutes of the Philadelphia Preach- 
ers ' Meeting in 1862: "A request from George R. Stuart 
was read, asking that ministers and laymen volunteer to 
go to the seat of war near Washington to minister to 
the sick and wounded." The Minutes record that a 
committee was then appointed to confer with Mr. Stuart 
(president of the Christian Commission), and also that 
fifteen ministers offered themselves to go to the front. 
These delegates volunteered their services and worked 
without pay. Among them were a large number of min- 
isters, representing all Protestant communions. These 
ministerial "delegates" were called chaplains by the 
soldiers, and they performed very much the same sort 
of service as a chaplain ; they held religious services, dis- 
tributed tracts and other religious literature ; comforted 
the dying, and buried the dead. The number of minis- 
ters from the Methodist Episcopal Church who served 
as delegates under the Christian Commission during the 
war is as follows : 

1862 20 

1863 77 

1864 244 

1865 117 



Total 458 9 

The Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
co-operated with the United States Christian Commission 
in furnishing tracts for distribution among the soldiers 
and sailors. I quote from the Report of the Committee 
on Tracts of the Cincinnati Conference for 1862, to 
show the increased effort made by the Church to meet 

8 For full information concerning "delegates" of the United 
States Christian Commission see Moss, pp. 541, 542. 

9 The whole number of delegates who served under the Chris- 
tian Commission during the war was 4,119. About two-thirds of 
this number were laymen, a large number being physicians and 
nurses. 

164 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

this new demand : ' ' The organization of the great armies 
of the United States has created an increased necessity 
for an enlarged liberality and a mnch more zealous and 
combined effort in this good work." The report goes 
on to state that "the soldiers generally receive with 
eagerness the tracts offered them, especially the wounded 
and sick. ' ' The report closes by asking each preacher to 
take a collection during the year for the tract cause, 
and also to encourage the people to give more liberally. 10 
The report is typical of many other reports to the 
various Conferences of the Methodist Church during the 
war, and an examination of the report of the Tract So- 
ciety of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from 1862 to 
1865, shows a considerable gain in gifts each successive 
year for tract distribution. 

1862 $11,679 49 

1863 12,534 46 

1864 17,198 04 

1865 22,322 40 11 

Most of the Conferences at their various sessions 
held during the war passed resolutions commending the 
Christian Commission. The following are those passed 
by the Newark Conference in 1864, which are typical 
of the others: 

Resolved, That in the Christian Commission we rec- 
ognize an organization eminently humane, patriotic, and 
Christian in its design; abundant and efficient in its 
labors in behalf of the souls as well as the bodies of our 
soldiers, in the field and in the hospital, and that we 
commend it to the confidence and liberality of all who 
love God and souls — all who love their country and 
have a regard for the noble men who face wounds and 
death for us. 

Resolved, That the preachers on the several districts 
will keep one of their number in the service of the Chris- 

10 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1862, p. 12. Also Minutes 
New York East Conference, 1864, p. 38. 

"General Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1862- 
1865. 

165 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

tian Commission all the time that the exigencies of the 
army require, and that the other brethren of the district 
will supply his appointments during his absence; that 
the presiding elder of the district and two others whom 
the preachers of the district shall elect, shall be a com- 
mittee to superintend the arrangements necessary in 
carrying out the foregoing proposition. 12 

In many instances the Conference indorsed the Sani- 
tary Commission as well as the Christian Commission, 
and many of the Churches were active in co-operating 
with it also. 13 

THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 

Unlike the Christian Commission, the American Bible 
Society did not originate with the war, but had already 
had a long and useful life before the war began, having 
been organized in 1816. Our interest in it here is to 
see how this society contributed to the welfare of the 
army and navy, and also to see how the Churches co- 
operated with it in this work. 

The opportunity of supplying the troops with the 
Bible was early seized by the society, and its activities 
in connection with the army and navy began with the 
very opening of the war. In the summer of 1861, 
400,000 copies of the Bible were delivered for distribu- 
tion to the volunteer troops, and also twenty-four vessels 
of the blockading fleet were supplied. 14 To meet this 
increased demand occasioned by the war, the society 
had necessarily to increase its funds, and to do this 
more agents must be appointed to go among the Churches 
and solicit, and appeals for the society were at various 
times issued through the Church papers. 

An examination of the statistics of the Methodist 

"Minutes Newark Conference, 1864, p. 38. For similar reso- 
lutions see Minutes Troy Conference, 1865, p. 45 ; Pittsburgh Con- 
ference, 1865, p. 30; Cincinnati Conference, 1863, p. 33. 

13 Minutes Indiana Conference, 1864, p. 6; Newark Conference, 
1864, pp. 37, 38. 

14 Western Christian Advocate, Oct. 23, 1861. 

166 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

Church for the four years of the war show a considerable 
increase in the number of agents of the American Bible 
Society from that Church. 

To show the magnitude of the work accomplished by 
the Bible Society in connection with the war I give a 
summary of the report for the year 1864. From April 
1, 1863, until March 1, 1864, the receipts of the society 
amounted to $429,464.12, and during this year 994,473 
volumes of the Bible alone were distributed, 5,000 Tes- 
taments were sent to Richmond for Union prisoners, 
20,000 volumes were sent to the Confederate army un- 
der General J. E. Johnston, 50,000 volumes were sent 
to General Bragg 's army in the Southwest, 100,000 vol- 
umes were sent to the Board of Colportage, of North 
Carolina, and besides these large grants the Christian 
Commission distributed over a half million volumes in 
the Union army and navy and the various hospitals. 15 

From the above report it will be seen that the Bible 
Society did not confine its work to the Union troops, 
but grants were made all through the war to the South- 
ern armies, and also to local Southern Bible Societies. 
In 1863, 30,000 volumes were given to the Virginia Bible 
Society, and in August, 1863, 25,000 Testaments were 
granted to the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board 
for use in the South. 16 

The Bible Society and the United States Christian 
Commission worked together in the distribution of re- 
ligious literature in the armies; indeed, the Bible So- 
ciety depended upon the delegates of the Christian Com- 
mission and regular chaplains entirely for such work. 

It is interesting to note the marked increase in the 
gifts of the Methodist Church in the United States to 
the American Bible Society during the course of the 
war, showing that the Churches were fully aroused to 

15 General Conference Journal, 1864, pp. 437-439. Also Minutes 
New England Conference, 1864, p. 30. 

16 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1863, pp. 26-29. 

167 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

the best interests of the armies and navies. The gifts 
by years are as follows: 

1862 $36,187 

1863 55,685 

1864 78,780 

1865 / 101,743 17 

The Methodist Episcopal Church co-operated also 
with the American Temperance Union in sending tem- 
perance tracts to the soldiers and sailors. This work 
was carried on largely through the Sunday schools. In 
1863 it was reported that "nearly 500 Sunday schools 
had sent from 1,000 to 10,000 tracts each." 18 

ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE AID OP FREEDMEN. 

It will be profitable in this connection, in order to 
get the situation clearly before us, to review briefly the 
attitude of those in authority, during the war, toward 
the Negroes, and also the efforts on the part of military 
commanders and others to meet the vast problem pre- 
sented by the Negro population in the Southern States. 
The contact of the Union armies with the slave popula- 
tion as they invaded the South naturally unsettled them, 
and from the outset of the war the military commanders 
had to deal with a Negro problem. 

It was the policy of the Government at the beginning 
of the war to interfere as little as possible with slavery. 
After the Battle of Bull Run the most stringent orders 
were issued to the commanders not to harbor any slave 
property, and hundreds of escaping slaves who had come 
into the Union camps were given up to their owners. 19 
General McClellan in his proclamation to the people of 
Western Virginia in May, 1861, states that all their 
rights will be respected, and that there will be no inter- 
ference with their slaves; and in July of the same year 

17 General Minutes, 1862-1865. 

ia Zion's Herald, March 25, 1863. 

19 Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, vol. ii, pp. 165-167. 

168 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

the commander at Washington issued a general order 
stating that "fleeing slaves will under no pretext what- 
ever be permitted to reside or be in any way harbored 
in the quarters and camps of the troops serving in this 
department. Neither will such slaves be allowed to ac- 
company troops on the march." 20 But this method of 
dealing with the slaves was not and could not be per- 
manent, owing to the fact that in many cases such treat- 
ment of slaves would be inhuman, and also to the 
fact that the attitude of the authorities toward the 
slaves underwent a gradual change as the war pro- 
gressed. 

General B. F. Butler, in command at Fortress Mon- 
roe, adopted the clever expedient of classing the escaped 
slaves as "contraband of war," and put them to work 
upon the Union works. On July 30, 1861, he reports 
nine hundred such Negroes under his charge. 21 This 
plan was allowed to stand by the Secretary of War, 
though Butler is warned to allow no interference "with 
the servants of peaceable citizens," nor "is the volun- 
tary return of any fugitive" to be prevented. 22 The 
proclamation of Fremont, in August, 1861, declaring 
free the slaves of those in rebellion in the district under 
his command, 23 was promptly recalled by the President. 24 
This proclamation of Fremont's, and Butler's action in 
regard to the slaves, made these commanders exceedingly 
popular with the Church people. By act of Congress, 
approved March 13, 1862, a new article of war was 
created. It prohibited all persons in the military service 
from employing the forces under their command to re- 
turn slaves to claiming owners, and provided trial by 
court martial and the penalty of dismissal for its viola- 

20 McPherson, pp. 144, 145. 

21 Moore's "Rebellion Eecord, ; ' vol. ii, part ii, pp. 437, 438; 
also Howard, vol. ii, pp. 168, 169. 

22 Moore, vol. ii, part ii, p. 493. 

23 Ibid, vol. iii, part ii, p. 33. 

24 McPherson, pp. 246, 247. 

169 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

tion. 25 The friends of freedom hailed this act with no 
little satisfaction, and it indicates the change in the 
attitude of the Government toward the slaves. 

The policy of employing Negroes, begun by Butler 
in the summer of 1861, was soon adopted by other mili- 
tary commanders. Grant in his Vicksburg campaign 
made use of Negro labor, and in order to care for the 
many thousands of refugees that came to him he set 
them to work under the direction of an army chaplain £nJfcw 
picking cotton on the abandoned plantations, for which 
they received a stipulated wage. 26 This was soon a 
common practice on the part of many commanders, 27 
and Negroes were employed in the hospitals as nurses 
and cooks, as well as in rougher forms of labor. 28 

As the number of Negroes dependent upon the care 
and protection of the military commanders increased it 
became necessary to organize departments of Negro 
affairs. Such a department was organized by General 
Butler in December, 1863, in his department, which in- 
cluded Eastern Virginia and part of North Carolina. 
Among the duties of those placed in charge of this 
work was to take an accurate census of the colored in- 
habitants in his district, provide food, clothing, and 
medicines where needed, see that all the able-bodied had 
employment, and take charge of lands allotted to the 
use of the Negroes. 29 There was an effort, also, on the 
part of the military commanders to establish schools 
for the freedmen. In March, 1864, General Banks, in 
command at New Orleans, issued an order providing 
schools for freedmen in each school district, even order- 
ing land to be bought and schoolhouses erected; and 
" books, stationery, and apparatus for the use of such 
schools" was to be provided, and also "a well-selected 

25 Howard, vol. ii, p. 172. 

26 Grant's ' ' Memoirs, ' ' vol. i, pp. 124-126. 

27 ' ' Official Records, ' ' Series I, vol. xxiv, p. 15. 

28 Ibid, Series III, vol. iv, p. 32. 

29 Moore's "Rebellion Record," vol. viii, part ii, pp. 261-264. 

170 



Methodist Co-operation vrith Organizations. 

library" was to be purchased for each "freed person" 
who was above school age, "at a cost to each, including 
a case to contain the same, not exceeding $2.50. ,,3 ° 

This condition of affairs in relation to the freedmen 
in the South offered great opportunities for work to 
the Churches and benevolent organizations in the North, 
which they were not slow to improve. 

The first religious organization to turn its attention 
to the needs of the freedmen was the American Mis- 
sionary Association. General Butler and E. L. Pierce 
wrote to this society in 1861, pointing out the great need 
among the freedmen. The society promptly responded 
to this appeal, and before the end of 1861 had several 
representatives in the field. 31 By the beginning of 1862 
new societies began to be formed in various sections of 
the North for the express purpose of aiding the freed- 
men. 

Among these various societies were the following : 

1. The National Freedmen 's Relief Association, 
formed in New York, February 22, 1862. 

2. Pennsylvania Freedmen 's Relief Association, or- 
ganized 1862. 

3. The Contraband Relief Association of Cincinnati. 

4. The Freedmen 's Relief Association of the District 
of Columbia. 

5. Woman's Relief Association of Philadelphia. 

6. The Northwestern Freedmen 's Aid Commission. 

7. The Contraband Relief Society of St. Louis. 

8. The Nashville Refugee Aid Society. 

9. The Western Freedmen 's Aid Society. 

10. The Washington Freedmen 's Aid Society. 

11. The Arkansas Relief Committee of Little Rock. 

12. The New Haven Freedmen 's Aid Society. 

13. The Worchester Freedmen 's Aid Society. 

14. The Trenton Freedmen 's Aid Society. 

30 "Official Keords," Series III, vol. iv, pp. 193-194. 
81 Freedmen 's Bureau, Paul E. Peirce, pp. 26, 27. 

171 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

15. Maine Freedmen's Relief Society. 32 
The Methodist Episcopal Church early in the war 
showed considerable interest in the condition of the 
Freedmen. At a meeting of the Board of Managers of 
the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, held early in 1862, action was taken to establish 
a mission for colored people at Port Royal and vicinity. 33 
This interest also manifested itself from the beginning 
of the war by frequent editorials, articles, and appeals 
for the freedmen which appeared in the Church peri- 
odicals from time to time. 

The Church as a whole manifested considerable im- 
patience with the administration in the early years of 
the war for what it considered its dallying attitude to- 
ward emancipation. Again and again immediate eman- 
cipation was urged in pulpit and press. General Fre- 
mont seemed to be the Churches' especial hero and fa- 
vorite, and when he issued his proclamation emancipat- 
ing the slaves of all those in rebellion within his mili- 
tary district, he was hailed with acclaim by the Metho- 
dist press, and when Mr. Lincoln commanded him to 
withdraw the order, Fremont was hailed as too wise for 
his generation. 

The Freedmen's organizations which seemed to have 
the largest share of Methodist co-operation were the 
National Freedmen's Relief Association, in the East, 
and the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, in the 
West ; 34 the former with headquarters in New York, and 

82 Peirce, pp. 27, 28. Also Minutes Maine Conference, 1865; 
Cincinnati Conference Minutes, 1864, pp. 22, 23. 

83 Christian Advocate, 1862, Feb. 27. 

84 The first public meeting of the Western Freedmen 's Commis- 
sion was held in Morris Chapel (Methodist), Cincinnati, Nov. 19, 
1863. Representatives of almost every Christian denomination were 
present. Rev. Adam Poe (Methodist) was president, and Rev. 
Chas. Kingsley, editor of the Western Christian Advocate, delivered 
one of the addresses. The treasurer reported receipts for eleven 
months amounting to $9,437.75, besides thousands of garments, 
books, shoes, blankets, etc. — Western Christian Advocate, Nov. 25. 
1863. 

172 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

the latter in Cincinnati; and in the Northwest, the 
Northwestern Freedmen 's Aid Commission. The method 
of this co-operation was in throwing open the churches 
for the taking of collections for this work, and the send- 
ing of teachers and missionaries into the field. Most of 
the Conferences during the last two years of the war 
appointed special committees on the freedmen 's work, 
whose reports generally contained the indorsement of 
some freedmen 's organization. 

The report of such a committee for the New York 
East Conference in 1865 contains first an expression of 
confidence in the National Freedmen 's Relief Associa- 
tion; second, a resolve asking that the members of the 
Conference take a deep interest in the objects of this 
association; and third, a resolve which proves the state- 
ment made above regarding the radical and sentimental 
position of the Church in reference to the Negro, which 
states, "That we recognize in the freedmen a vast body 
of native-born citizens entitled to all the privileges, im- 
munities, and responsibilities of citizenship, including 
equally, with all other Union citizens, the protection of 
law and the right of suffrage, and that we will not 
slacken our efforts in their behalf until these rights are 
enjoyed by them." 35 

The report of a similar committee from the Cincin- 
nati Conference 36 states that, while they heartily approve 
of the work of the various organizations for the relief 
of freedmen, yet they feel a special interest in the West- 
ern Freedmen 's Aid Commission, as operating within 
their bounds, to which they promise sympathy and sup- 
port; and they also recommend the appointment of J. 
M. Walden as corresponding secretary of the "Western 
Freedmen 's Commission. 37 The report of such a com- 
mittee from the Indiana Conference stated "that it is 

35 New York East Conference Minutes, 1865, pp. 41, 42. 

36 Minutes Cincinnati Conference, 1864, pp. 22, 23. 

37 The secretary of this committee was Eev. J. M. Sullivan, an 
uncle of the writer and an ex-chaplain. 

173 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

our duty to welcome in our midst the regular consti- 
tuted agents of the Freedmen's Aid Commission and 
assist them in encouraging all our people to contribute 
money and clothing to relieve the sufferings of Negro 
contrabands. ' ,38 

The General Conference of 1864, representing the 
whole Church, also appointed a committee on the freed- 
men, which reported "that in the events which have 
thrown the thousands of freed people upon the benevo- 
lence of the humane people of the North, we recognize 
a Providential call to the Christian public . . . and 
especially to the Church of Christ for the means of their 
evangelization. ' ' The second resolve indorses the Boston 
Educational Association, the Western Freedmen's Aid 
Commission, the National Freedmen's Relief Association, 
the Northwestern Freedmen's Relief Association, the 
Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, and the 
Western Sanitary Commission, and commends them to 
the liberality of Methodist people everywhere. The last 
one states "that the best interests of the freedmen and 
of the country demand legislation that shall foster and 
protect this people," and they urge upon Congress to 
establish a bureau of freedmen's affairs. 39 

A bill establishing a Freedmen's Bureau as a part 
of the War Department was passed by Congress March 
3, 1865, which was to continue during the war and one 
year thereafter, but Congress afterwards by legislative 
act extended the life of the bureau. 40 The object of the 
bureau was to supervise, aid, and protect the freedmen 
in the South, and at its head was placed General 0. 0. 
Howard, a man who had the confidence of the Church 
and Christian people generally. This bureau con- 
tinued its operations until January 1, 1869, and dur- 

38 Minutes Indiana Conference, 1864, p. 32. 

39 General Conference Journal, 1864, p. 130. 

40 House Executive Documents, 39th Congress, 1st Session, vol. ii, 
p. 41, No. 11 j also Howard, vol. ii, pp. 201, 202. 

174 



Methodist Co-operation with Organizations. 

ing this period the various Churches in the North es- 
tablished on a firm basis their work among the freed- 
men. 

Toward the close of the war, or soon after, many 
of the denominations organized their own denomina- 
tional societies to carry on this work. The United Pres- 
byterians of Ohio organized their own Freedmen's So- 
ciety in 1863, and in the same year the Reformed Pres- 
byterians, the United Brethren, and one branch of the 
Baptists also organized denominational societies for 
work among freedmen. In 1865 the Congregationalists 
organized a similar society and called upon the Church 
to give a quarter million annually for this work. The 
Protestant Episcopal Church in October, 1865, at their 
convention in Philadelphia, organized a Freedmen's Aid 
Society, and the Baptists the same year appealed to their 
Churches for $100,000 to begin their work. 41 The Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church continued to work through the 
various general organizations until after the close of 
the war. 

During the last years of the war a number of mis- 
sionaries to Negroes in the South were sent out by the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Churches, Sunday schools, 
and lay schools were established at various places. At 
Newbern, N. C, a day school was conducted in the Col- 
ored Methodist Church, and three Sunday schools were 
conducted in that place and vicinity. 42 Besides these 
missionaries to the Negroes a number of Methodist min- 
isters acted as agents of several of these freedmen's 
organizations, the Rev. J. M. Walden, of the Cincinnati 
Conference, who was corresponding secretary of the 
Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, being the most 
prominent. He afterwards became secretary of the 

41 " Christian Educators in Council," 1883; compiled by J. C. 
Hartzell. 

^Christian Advocate, Jan. 21, 1864. 
175 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and later a bishop. 43 

At the close of the war, in 1866, the Freedmen's Aid 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- 
ized in Cincinnati by a convention of ministers and lay- 
men called for that purpose. Later this society was 
given official recognition and indorsed by the General 
Conference of 1868, and has remained one of the prin- 
cipal benevolent organizations of the Church to the pres- 
ent time. 

43 Among the other Methodist ministers who held similar posi- 
tions during the war were Rev. Uriah Eberhart, Upper Iowa Con- 
ference, and Rev. C. P. Pillsbury, Wisconsin Conference, agents of 
the Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Commission; Revs. J. R. Still- 
man, Cincinnati Conference; J. R. Luke, Illinois Conference, and 
J. F. Jaques, Illinois Conference, agents Western Freedmen's Com- 
mission. Revs. H. S. White, Providence Conference; William Live- 
sey, Providence Conference; A. C. Rose, Troy Conference; S. Q. 
Gibson, Ohio Conference; A. D. Martin, Erie Conference; and C. 
C. Cone, Maine Conference, were agents of other such societies or 
commissions. This data has been obtained from the General Min- 
utes, 1861-1865. 



176 



CHAPTER X. 

Bibliography. 

I. Slavery Struggle in the Church. 
1. Primary Sources. 

CHURCH DOCUMENTS. 

The General Conference Journals, especially those 
from 1844 to 1864, inclusive. The General Conference 
is the law-making body of the Church (Methodist Epis- 
copal) and meets every four years. The Journal con- 
tains the minutes of the proceedings and the reports of 
committees. 

The Disciplines of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
from 1784 to 1864, inclusive. The Discipline contains 
the Constitution and Rules of the Church, and is revised 
every four years in conformity with the action of the 
General Conference. 

Minutes of the Annual Conferences. Each of the 
several Annual Conferences published Minutes, in which 
may be found material bearing on the slavery contest, 
such as formal resolutions, reports of committees, and 
records of discussions. 

Methodist Church Property Case, New York, 1851. 
This case relates to the division of the property of the 
Methodist Book Concern, brought by the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South. This volume contains copies of 
the various documents relating to the division of the 
Church. Reported by R. Sutton, special and Congres- 
sional reporter. 

Report of Debates in the General Conference of 1844, 
by Robert Athow West, official reporter, New York, 1844. 

12 yd 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

These debates relate to the division of the Church over 
slavery, which took place at this General Conference. 

CHURCH PERIODICALS. 

The three most important Methodist journals for 
the whole of the slavery contest within the Church are : 
Zion's Herald and Wesley an Journal, published in Bos- 
ton; the Christian Advocate and Journal, published in 
New York, which was the chief official publication of 
the Church; and the Western Christian Advocate, pub- 
lished in Cincinnati. The Northwestern Christian Ad- 
vocate and the Central Christian Advocate, published in 
Chicago and St. Louis, are valuable for the years 1850 
to 1860. 

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS. 

The material among Government documents bearing 
on the slavery contest in the Churches is very meager. 
Congressional Globe, vol. xxi, part i, p. 453 ; House Re- 
port of Committees, 1st and 2d Sessions, 34th Congress, 
vol. ii, 1855-56, being about the extent of such material. 

2. Secondary Sources. 

The most important book for the slavery contest in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church is the "History of the 
Great Secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in the Year 1845," by Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D., Cin- 
cinnati, 1855. This is the official history of the division 
of the Church, from the Northern standpoint, authorized 
by the General Conference of 1848. It contains a great 
mass of valuable material with copious quotations from 
periodicals, pamphlets, etc. Documents to the number 
of seventy-seven are appended. 

"The Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church," by L. C. Matlack, 1881. 
The best brief summary of the entire slavery struggle, 
written by an active participant in the struggle, having 

178 



Bibliography. 

been one of the founders of the Wesleyan Methodist 
Church, the anti-slavery Church. The book would be 
much more satisfactory, however, if it contained full 
footnotes. 

"History of Methodism in the United States," by 
J. M. Buckley, 1896. The best of the briefer histories 
of Methodism in the United States. 

Brief accounts and discussions on Slavery and the 
Church, all written from an extreme partisan stand- 
point : ' ' The Methodist Episcopal Church and Slavery, ' ' 
by Daniel De Vinne ; ' ' Border Methodism and Border 
Slavery," by Rev. J. Maryland McCarter, 1858; "Slav- 
ery in the Methodist Episcopal Church," by Elias 
Bowen, 1859; "Vindication of Border Methodism," by 
Samuel Huffman, 1859; "Methodism and Slavery," by 
L. C. Matlack, 1848; a collection of pamphlets bearing 
on Slavery, compiled by Rev. Richard Watson, a mem- 
ber of the Executive Committee of the British Anti- 
Slavery Society, bound in eleven volumes. Deposited in 
the Methodist Book Concern, Cincinnati: "Cleavage 
Between Eastern and Western Virginia, " by C. H. Am- 
bler, in American Historical Review, July, 1910. In 
this article the importance of the Church in the disrup- 
tion of Virginia is discussed, using the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church as the typical example. "The Fight for 
the Northwest, 1860," by W. E. Dodd, American Histor- 
ical Review, July, 1911. In the course of this article 
the political influence of the Churches in the election of 
1860 in the Northwest is discussed, with special empha- 
sis upon the Methodist Church. 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

These consist mostly of lives of Bishops and promi- 
nent ministers, written in highly eulogistic style. "Peter 
Cartwright's Autobiography," 1856. Peter Cartwright 
was one of the best-known pioneer preachers of the Mid- 
dle West and took strong anti-slavery ground. "Life of 

179 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

Orange Scott," by L. C. Matlack, 1848. One of the 
early abolition leaders in the Methodist Church. "Life 
of Adam Crooks, " by Mrs. E. W. Crooks, 1875; "Life 
of John P. Durbin, D.D.," by John A. Roche, 1889. 
Dr. Durbin was secretary of the Missionary Society of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church during the bitterest 
part of the slavery controversy. 

GENERAL ACCOUNTS. 

"Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, " by 
Henry Wilson, 3 vols., 1877. Uncritical and without 
footnotes, and of little importance for the slavery con- 
test in the Churches, but the most complete survey of 
the whole question of American slavery. 

"History of the United States, 1850-1877," by James 
Ford Rhodes, 7 vols. Volume I refers briefly to the 
Churches in relation to the slavery struggle, pp. 128, 
129, 145, 146. 

"Slavery and Abolition," by A. B. Hart, Vol. XVI, 
American Nation Series, gives brief summary of slavery 
in its relation to the Churches. The most valuable part 
of this volume for this study is the chapter devoted to a 
bibliography on the general subject of Slavery and Abo- 
lition. 

II. Relation of the Methodist Episcopal Church to 

the War. 
1. Primary Sources. 

CHURCH DOCUMENTS. 

General Conference Journals for 1860 and 1864. 
Contain proceedings without debates, with reports of 
committees in the Appendix. A valuable source. 

The General Minutes of the Annual Conferences in 
the United States, 1861-1865, 3 vols. This is little more 
than a bare collection of statistics of the Churches. In 

180 



Bibliography. 

these volumes are also printed brief memoirs of deceased 
preachers. 

Individual Conference Minutes. Each Annual Con- 
ference published Minutes, which contain besides the 
bare statistical reports, reports of committees and reso- 
lutions on various subjects relating to the war. 

CHUKCH PERIODICALS. 

The Christian Advocate and Journal, published in 
New York, Edward Thomson, D. D., editor, 1860-1864. 
Generally recognized as the principal weekly journal 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Well conducted and 
an excellent source. Z ion's Herald and Wesley an Jour- 
nal, published in Boston and edited by Rev. Erastus 
0. Haven. This was the oldest Methodist journal and 
had a reputation for independence. Western Christian 
Advocate, published in Cincinnati and edited by Charles 
Kingsley, D. D. Next to the New York paper the most 
influential of the Methodist journals. The Methodist, 
an independent journal, published in New York and 
ably edited by Geo. R. Crooks, D. D., and John Mc- 
Clintock, D.D., two of the best-known and ablest minis- 
ters of the Church. 

Other Methodist journals which contain valuable 
material relating to the war are : The Central Christian 
Advocate, published in St. Louis and edited during the 
war by Charles Elliott, D. D. ; Northwestern Christian 
Advocate, of Chicago, edited by T. M. Eddy, D. D.; 
also the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Christian Advocates; the 
Pacific Christian Advocate, of Portland, Ore.; the La- 
dies' Repository and Der Christliche Apologete, both 
published in Cincinnati; the Quarterly Review, of New 
York, and a number of other local and smaller peri- 
odicals. 

Occasional references bearing on the relation of the 
Church to the Civil War are also found in Harper's 
Weekly and other secular journals. 

181 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 



• 



MANUSCRIPTS. 



Considerable manuscript material bearing on this 
study is available. Among such material are the Min- 
utes of the weekly preachers' meetings of the various 
cities, such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincin- 
nati. These manuscript Minutes may be found in the 
various historical collections of the Methodist Church in 
the cities above referred to. These Minutes contain con- 
siderable material of local importance. 

Some private documents and papers are of impor- 
tance, such as the letters and papers of Bishop Simp- 
son, now in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Chas. 
W. Bouy, 906 Pine Street, Philadelphia; also the manu- 
script journal of Rev. Daniel Stevenson, one of the 
eighteen ministers of the Kentucky Conference, Metho- 
dist Church South, who came into the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church at the close of the war; the journal now 
in the possession of Prof. R. T. Stevenson, Delaware, 
Ohio. Other collections of letters and papers may be 
found in the Methodist Historical Rooms, 1018 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia ; 150 Fifth Avenue, New York ; and ./ 
36 Boomfield Street, Boston. 

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS. 

Material relating to the war activities of the Church 
in Government documents is not abundant. The most 
numerous references are found in the ' ' Official Records ' ' 
of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols., with 
General Index, especially in Series II, which relates to 
Prisoners of War. The disloyal activities of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, South, during the war are set 
forth in the Report of House and Senate Committees 
on war claims, found in House Reports of Committees, 
43d Congress, 1st Session, Document 777, and in Senate 
Report of Committees, 45th Congress, 2d Session, No. 
146. 

182 



Bibliography. 

"Richardson's "Messages and Papers of the Presi- 
dents," in ten volumes, published as House Miscella- 
neous Documents, 53d Congress, 2d Session, No. 210, 
Vol. VI, contains President Lincoln's messages and 
papers. 

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS. 

"McPherson's History of the Rebellion," by Edward 
McPherson, one time clerk in the House of Representa- 
tives. A very valuable compilation, made up mostly of 
quotations from official documents and newspapers. In 
the Appendix is a chapter devoted to the Church and 
the Rebellion, which has been an invaluable source for 
this study. "Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1860- 
1865. A very valuable source based on newspaper re- 
ports. "The Rebellion Record — A Diary of American 
Events," edited by Prank Moore. "Abraham Lincoln, 
A History," by Nicolay and Hay, Vol. VI, contains a 
chapter on Lincoln and the Churches, which has con- 
siderable value for this study. 

The Methodist Almanac, 1860-1865, for some general 
statistics relating to the Church not elsewhere found. 
"Annals of the United States Christian Commission," 
by Rev. Samuel Moss, home secretary of the commission. 
A complete history of the commission, told year by year, 
with statistics, copies of letters, and other documents 
relating to the work of the commission. "Incidents of 
the United States Christian Commission," by Edward 
P. Smith. A collection of incidents relating to the ac- 
tivities of the commission, poorly organized, and with 
no classification whatever. 

2. Secondary Sources. 

GENERAL. 

"The Church and the Rebellion," by R. L. Stanton, 
D. D. An attempt to show that the war was brought 
on largely because of the influences of the Churches, and 

183 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

controversial in character. "An Appeal to the Rec- 
ords," by E. Q. Fuller, D. D., 1876. An argument sup- 
porting the action of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in going into the South. "The Freedmen's Bureau," 
by Paul K. Pierce, 1904. University of Iowa Studies. 

LOCAL HISTORIES. 

"History of Methodism in Wisconsin," by Rev. P. 
S. Bennett and Rev. James Lawson, 1890. "Southwest- 
ern Methodism," by Rev. Charles EUiott, D. D., 1868. 
Made up largely of extracts from the Central Christian 
Advocate for the four years of the war, of which Dr. 
Elliott was the war editor. "Indiana Methodism," by 
F. G. Holliday, 1873. "History of the New England 
Conference," by James Mudge, 1910. "History of the 
New England Southern Conference," and numerous 
other local histories of like nature. 

HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL CHURCHES. 

"History of Ebenezer Church, of South wark, Phila- 
delphia;" "Memorial Record of Wharton Street Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia," by J. C. Hunter- 
son. ' ' Seventy-seventh Anniversary of the Union Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia." In this church 
the famous General Conference of 1864 was held. 

BIOGRAPHY. 

There are a number of biographies of bishops and 
prominent ministers which contain material for this 
study. "Life of Bishop Matthew Simpson," by George 
R. Crooks, D. D., 1890. A carefully written biography, 
giving a detailed account of the bishop's war activities. 
"Life of Bishop Janes," by Henry B. Ridgeway, D. D., 
1882. "Life of Rev. Thomas A. Morris," by Rev. John 
F. Marlay, 1875. "Life Story of Rev. Davis W. Clark," 
by Daniel Curry, 1874. All of the above were bishops 
during all or a part of the Civil War. "Autobiography 

184 



Bibliography. 

of Granville Moody," edited by Rev. S. Weeks, 1889. 
"Life and Letters of Rev. Dr. McClintock," by George 
R. Crooks, 1876. "Life of Chaplain McCabe," by Frank 
Milton Bristol, 1908. "Life of George H. Stewart," 
written by himself, edited by Robert Ellis Thompson, 
1890. Mt. Stewart was one of the founders and presi- 
dent of the United States Christian Commission. 

3. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

GENERAL. 

Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, 2 vols. (1858-1865), 1870. 
Merely a collection of statistics. "History of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South," by Gross Alexander. 
Volume XI of the American Church History Series. 
The best brief history of that denomination. "History 
of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South," 1845. Contains collection relating to the or- 
ganization of the Church South. "The Disruption of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church," 1844-1846, by E. H. 
Myers. "History of the Organization of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South," by A. H. Redford, 1871. 
"Annals of Southern Methodism," by C. F. Deems. 
"History of Methodism," by Bishop H. N. McTyeire, 
1884. 

LOCAL HISTORIES. 

"History of Methodism in Kentucky," A. H. Red- 
ford, 3 vols., 1868. "A Critical View of the Holston 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
during the Great Rebellion," J. H. Main, 1868. "Meth- 
odism in Missouri, ' ' Vols. I and II, by D. R. McAnally, 
editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate (Methodist 
Church South) during the war ; Vol. Ill, by W. H. Lewis, 
1890. "History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida, 
1785-1865," George G. Smith, Jr., 1877. "Sketches of 
the Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, 

185 



Methodist Episcopal Church and Civil War. 

South," by J. H. Lafferty. ''Martyrdom in Missouri/ ' 
by Rev. W. M. Leftwich, 2 vols., 1870. An account of 
the persecution of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, in Missouri during and following the war. "The 
Methodist Church Case of Maysville, Ky.," by Henry 
Ward, F. T. Hard, and R. H. Stanton. 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

A number of biographies of the bishops of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, have been written, some 
of which contain material for this study. "Life of 
Bishop James Osgood Andrew," by G. G. Smith, 1882. 
This biography bears particularly upon the division of 
the Church. "Life of Bishop Henry Biddleman Bas- 
com," by M. M. Henkle, 1854. "Life of Bishop William 
Capers," by Wm. M. Wightman, 1858. "Life of John 
Berry MeFerrin," by Bishop 0. P. Fitzgerald, 1888. 
"Bishop George Foster Pierce," by Geo. G. Smith, 1888. 
Bishop Pierce was particularly active in his labors for 
the Confederacy. "Life of Bishop Enoch Mather Mar- 
vin," by T. M. Finney. 



186 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A. 



Chaplains By Conferences. 



Baltimore Conference. 
Bull, J. W. 
Hoover, J. W. 

Black Eiver Conference. 
Axtell, N. G. 
Chase, W. D. 
Fergugon, J. V. 
Jones, E. W. 
Mitchell, John. 
Nicols, W. A. 
Pierce, M. E. 
Palmer, L. L. 

Central German Conference. 
Schmidt, H. D. (1864) 

Central Illinois Conference. 
Brown, G. W. 
Cotton, Thos. 
Gue, G. W. 
Haney, E. 
Haney, M. L. 
Higgins, A. C. 
Hackard, M. D. 
Millsops, J. S. 
Palmer, Geo. E. 
Peterson, W. S. 
Eansom, E. 
Tullis, Amos K. 
Underwood, W. 

Central Ohio Conference. 
Alderman, J. W. 
Collier, Geo. W. 
Cozier, B. F. W. 



Ferris, C. G. 
Hallington, A. 
Ketcham, C. W. 
Kennedy, Oliver. 
Morrow, J. M. 
Poucher, J. 
Poe, A. B. 
Reynolds, Chas. 
Strong, D. G. 
Wilson, Amos. 

Cincinnati Conference. 
Bitler, M. 
Beall, A. U. 
Brewster, D. A. 
Blackburn, Jas. 
Callender, N. 
Cramer, M. J. 
Chalfant, J. F. 
Gaddis, M. P. 
Hill, J. J. 
Moody, J. 
Miller, L. P. 
Middleton, J. H. 
Sears, C. W. 
Spenee, J. F. 
Stillwell, J. E. 
Schmidt, H. D. (1863) 
Shinn, John. 
Wright, J. F. 
Weakley, J. W. 
Yourtee, S. L. 
Sullivan, J. M. 

Des Moines Conference. 
Jones, C. J. 
Slusser, F. M. 



189 



Appendix. 



Detroit Conference. 
Blanchard, J. 
Benson, W. 
Edwards, A. 
Jacokes, D. C. 
May, E. W. 
Mahan, Wm. 
May, W. C. 
Sneart, J. S. 
Shaw, A. C. 
Tracey, D. B. 
Taylor, G. 

East Baltimore Conference. 
Brittain, A. 
Couser, S. L. M. 
Crever, B. H. 
Coleman, J. A. 
Earnshaw, Wm. 
Ferguson, W. G. 
Gere, J. A. 
Hartman, G. 
Houck, W. A. 
Keith, W. H. 
McClure, T. F. 
Miller, J. E. 
Eoss, J. A. 
Eeese, A. A. 
Stevens, W. H. 
Vinton, E. S. 
Wilson, J. T. 

East Genesee Conference. 
Buck, D. D. 
Brown, J. N. 
Drake, E. A. 
Dickinson, S. B. 
Haskell, W. M. 
Watts, J. 

East Maine Conference. 
Brown, J. L. 
Bray, H. L. 
Chase, B. A. 



Chase, S. F. 
Church, A. J. 
Ellis, C. H. 
Higgins, Phineas. 
Stout, S. F. 
Tefft, B. F. 

Erie Conference. 
Bear, E. M. 
Breen, J. M. 
Hulburt, E. H. 
Hawk, G. B. 
Lytle, J. S. 
Ludwick, E. A. 
Moore, H. H. 
Morton, A. D. 
Steve, D. M. 
Williams, L. D. 

Genesee Conference. 
Bowman, J. 
Buck, E. M. 
Bills, J. E. 
Dolematyr, G. 
Foot, L. T. 
Kendall, A. 
McNeal, Benj. F. 
Eobie, J. E. 
Eogers, W. H. 
Steele, Allan. 

Holston Conference. 
Milburn, Wm. 

Illinois Conference. 
Berger, J. S. 
Baldwin, C. P. 
Barwick, J. S. 
Bradshaw, C. G. 
Crant, J. L. 
Evans, W. M. 
Guthrie, E. E. 
Hammond, P. D. 
Hungerford, B. 



190 



Appendix. 



Jones, L. 
Jacquess, F. J. 
Kirkpabuck, J. L. 
Locke, J. R. 
Miller, I. T. 
Newman, W. J. 
Palmer, J. A. 
Rutledge, W. J. 
Sargent, J. C. 
Vandewater, A. C. 
Wood, P. 
Wilkins, E. D. 

Indiana Conference. 
Brown, S. 
Carson, L. E. 
Campbell, M. M. 
Chapman, H. O. 
Daniel, W. V. 
Gilmore, Hiram. 
Gaskins, E. 
Hibben, H. B. 
Hewing, F. A. 
Hobbs, M. M. C. 
Hight, J. J. 
Hancock, L. M. 
Hucherson, F. A. 
Haimeton, J. B. 
Kiger, John. 
McNoughten, S. W. 
Pierce, R. R. 
Patterson, N. M. 
St. Clair, J. F. 
Whitled, Thomas A. 
Woods, Milas. 

Iowa Conference. 
Allender, R. B. 
Audas, Thos. 
Burgess, John. 
Evans, F. W. 
Ebod, John. 
Garrison, S. F. C. 
Hare, W. H. 



Hestwood, S. 
Ingalls, P. P. 
Kirkpatrick, A. J. 
Latham, J. W. 
Murphy, Dennis. 
Poston, W. 
Stewart, I. I. 
Simmons, J. T. 
Teter, J. P. 
White, J. H. 

Kansas Conference. 
Brooks, S. 
Cline, J. S. 
Duvall, R. P. 
Davis, W. R. 
Fisher, H. D. 
Fevrill, T. J. 
Gardner, O. B. 
Kline, J. S. 
Leard, J. H. 
Paulson, John. 
Robb, W. 

Kentucky Conference. 
Black, W. H. 
Burket, M. H. B. 
Lathrop, E. 
Pell, J. P. 

Maine Conference. 
Colby, Jos. 
French, L. P. 
Fuller, S. A. 
Godfrey, A. C. 

Michigan Conference. 
Brockway, W. H. 
Cogshall, I. 
Earl, L. W. 
Elrod, A. J. 
Glass, F. 
Jones, J. 
Patterson, H. A. 
Smith, M. J. 



191 



Appendix. 



Minnesota Conference. 
Brown, L. D. 
Bowdish, 0. H. 
Balles, S. 
Crary, B. F. 
Cobb, D. 
Light, O. P. 
Lathrop, E. E. 
Peet, J. 

Richardson, G. W. 
Tucker, Ezra. 

Missouri and Arkansas 

FERENCE. 

Brooks, Jos. 
Bratton, T. B. 
Cox, J. H. 
Hopkins, J. H. 
Linen, J. 
McDonald, A. C. 
McNeiley, L. T. 
Oyler, James. 
Pile, W. A. 
Pace, L. C. 
Shumate, N. 
Sellers, Wm. 
Williams, T. J. 

Nebraska Conference. 
Spillman, W. P. 

Newark Conference. 
Brown, J. H. 
Crane, E. P. 
Daily, J. P. 
Faull, John. 
Gray, S. L. 
Horton, G. W. 
Lenhart, J. L. 
Moore, S. T. 
Pritchard, B. F. 
Simpson, B. F. 
Wolfe, F. L. 
Yard, R. B. 



Con- 



New England Conference. 
Bent, G. R. 
Cushman, I. S. 
Cromack, J. C. 
Gage, Rodney. 
Hemstead, H. E. 
Haven, Gilbert. 
Lacount, W. F. 
Leanard, W. G. 
Morse, F. C. 
Winslow, E. D. 
Macreading, C. S. 

New Hampshire Conference. 

Adams, J. W. 
Barnes, G. S. 
Buckley, J. M. 
Emerson, J. C. 
Lergo, E. H. 
Manly, R. M. 
Pike, James. 
Stratton, R. K. 
Thomas, W. H. 
Wilkins, L. 

New Jersey Conference. 
Abbott, W. T. 
Given, R. 
Graw, J. B. 
Heisley, C. W. 
Hartraufft, C. R. 
Hill, C. E. 
James, J. H. 
Rose, F. B. 
Sovereign, T. 
Stockton, W. C. 
White, J. 

New York Conference. 
Champion, J. H. 
Ferris, D. O. 
Gale, S. G. 
Keyes, E. R. 
Parker, John. 



192 



Appendix. 



Strickland, W. P. 
Shelling, C. 
Wheatley, Bichard. 

New York East Conference. 
Gilden, W. H. 
Inskip, J. S. 

North Indiana Conference. 
Beeks, G. C. 
Barnett, Thos. 
Barnhart, A. C. 
Boyden, O. P. 
Dale, L. 
Eddy, A. 
Hoback, W. K. 
Lemon, O. V. 
Layton, S. 
MeCarty, J. S. 
Stout, S. T. 
Smith, J. W. 
Sparks, E. H. 

North Ohio Conference. 
Bush, E. H. 
Beatty, Samuel M. 
Bushong, J. W. 
Jones, A. P. 
Matlack, J. 
Nicherson, W. H. 
Parish, H. L, 
Phillips, Geo. S. 
Pepper, G. W. 
Warner, Lorengo. 
Wheeler, Alfred. 
Warner, L. 

North West Indiana Confer- 
ence. 

Brakeman, N. L. 
Claypool, J. H. 
Donaldson, J. S. 
Guion, G. 
Huffman, H. D, 

13 



Hill, J. 
Harker, W. S. 
Eeed, J. C. 
Stafford, G. W. 
Tarr, C. W. 
Webb, T. E. 

Northwest Wisconsin Con- 
ference. 

Golden, T. C. 
Johnson, J. W. 
McKinley, Wm. 
Springer, J. E. 

Ohio Conference. 
Byers, A. G. 
Bennett, E. B. 
Bethauser, Charles. 
Berkstresser, H. 
Drake, L. F. 
Dillon, John. 
Fry, B. St. James. 
Gregg, J. C. 
Griffith, W. H. 
Holliday, W. C. 
Hall, E. P. 
Isaminger, G. W. 
King, M. L. 
Lewis, J. W. 
Morris, Jos. 
McCabe, C. C. 
Mclntire, Thos. 

Oneida Conference. 
Bristol, D. W. 
Bowdish, A. C. 
Cleveland, M. B. 
Crippen, J. T. 
Eichardson, H. S. 
Talbott, H. Y. 

Philadelphia Conference. 
Burkalow, J. T. 
Crouch, C. J. 



193 



Appendix. 



Fries, W. H. 
Gregg, W. B. 
Gracey, S. L. 
Gregg, J. C. 
Gray, J. E. T. 
Hammond, W. 
Kirkpatriek, Thos. 
Lame, J. S. 
Meredith, J. F. 
O'Neill, W. 
Poulson, T. L. 
Kokestraw, G. G. 
Smith, V. 
Thomas, T. S. 
Tull, W. T. 
Way, E. J. 
Welch, Jos. 
Walton, W. B. 

Pittsburgh Conference. 

Bradley, E. W. 
Boyle, T. N. 
Brady, E. W. 
Castle, A. B. 
Guvie, L. M. 
High, J. C. 
Keagle, J. S. 
Locke, W. H. 
Lane, A. J. 
Leinmod, J. S. 
McCleary, Thos. 
Pierce, J. N. 
Petty, A. L. 
Thomas, J. M. 
Vertican, F. W. 
Vail, J. D. 
Worthington, N. C. 
Williams, A. G. 

Providence Conference. 

Adams, C. C. 
Cummings, S. S. 
Gould, J. B. 



Palmer, A. 
White, H. S. 

Eock Eiver Conference. 
Atchison, W. D. 
Clendenning, J. M. 
Cartwright, B. H. 
Crews, H. 
Flowers, J. W. 
Haggerty, T. H. 
Johnson, Philo. 
Lyon, G. G. 
Stuff, G. L. S. 
Stoughton, J. C. 
Satterfield, T. E. 
Smith, W. H. 
Teed, D. 

South East Indiana Confer- 
erence. 

Adams S. E. 
Brouse, J. A. 
Cotton, Jas. 
Crawford, J. M. 
Gatch, B. F. 
Hurlburt, L. 
Lozier, J. H. 
Saunders, W. T. 
Snyder, W. W. 

South Illinois Conference. 
Bruner, W. B. 
Clifford, Z. S. 
Compton, G. W. 
Cliffe, W. 
Chipman, H. O. 
Davis, J. P. 
Eldridge, W. V. 
Gillham, J. D. 
Houts, T. F. 
Lane, J. W. 
Lockwood, J. H. 
Massey, E. H. 
Miner, E. H. 



194 



Appendix. 



Morrison, A. B. 
Ransom, A. 
Woodard, J. B. 
Walker, L. S. 

Troy Conference. 
Barber, L. 
Bowdrye, L. N. 
Clemens, S. W. 
Eaton, J. W. 
Farr, A. A. 
Hager, C. L. 
Marshall, L. 
Mevill, S. M. 
Robinson, R. H. 
White, M. 

Upper Iowa Conference. 
Eberhardt, U. 
Kendig, A. B. 
Trusdell, C. G. 
Vincent, F. W. 
Webb, John. 

Vermont Conference. 
Dickinson, L. C. 
Dayton, D. W. 
Mack, D. A. 
Roberts, J. L. 
Simons, V. M. 
Webster, A. 
Webster, Harvey. 

West Iowa Conference. 
Goodfellow, T. N. 
Smith, D. N. 



West Wisconsin Conference. 
Brunson, Alfred. 
Hammond, B. C. 
Langley, Robert. 
Walter, A. H. 
Weirick, C. E. 

West Virginia Conference. 
Battelle, G. 
Drummond, J. 
Gregg, A. W. 
Hower, R. W. 
Irwin, J. L. 
Lydia, A. J. 
Lyon, A. J. 
Martin, Gildeon. 
Monroe, T. H. 
Reger, J. W. 
Steele, Samuel. 
Trainer, T. H. 
Wallace, R. M. 

Wisconsin Conference. 
Fallows, Samuel. 
Jones, D. O. 
Pillsbury, C. D. 
Walker, J. M. 
Walter, A. H. 

Wyoming Conference. 
Gavitt, W. H. 
Roberts, E. F. 
Schoomaker, A. H. 
Weiss, S. W. 
Wyatt, W. 
Wheeler, Henry. 



195 



Appendix. 

Union Chaplains From Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. 

Missouri Conference. Buckner, E. P., surgeon in 

Powell, A. H. United States Army. 

Senby, W. Parker, L. D. 

Kentucky Conference. Louisville Conference. 
Boyles, S. J. Lesley, M. N. 

Axline, D. W. Bristow, J. H. 

Johnston, J. J. Burge, H. T. 

Eads, John E. Gardner, Kobt. G. 



196 



APPENDIX B. 

Methodist Ministers Who Were Delegates of 
the United States Christian Commission. 

Name. 1862. Conference. 

Alday, J. H Philadelphia. 

Best, Wesley C Philadelphia. 

Bodine, Henry H Philadelphia. 

Boyle, W. E New Jersey. 

Crouch, C. J Philadelphia. 

Dobbins, Jas. B New Jersey. 

Gilroy, Henry E Philadelphia. 

Grocy, S. L Philadelphia. 

King, Isaiah D New Jersey. 

McCullough, J. B Philadelphia. 

Owen, Eoger Philadelphia. 

Patterson, D. L Philadelphia. 

Eobinson, W. C Philadelphia. 

Ruth, Jno Philadelphia. 

Smith, Wm. C New York. 

Steele, David Genesee. 

Thomas, S. W Philadelphia. 

Westwood, H. C Baltimore, Md. 

Wood, W. B Philadelphia. 

1863. 

Abbott, J. T New England. 

Adair, J. M Ohio. 

Atkinson, H. K Maine. 

Baird, J. N Pittsburgh. 

Beck, F. H Black Eiver. 

Bent, G. E New England. 

Bidwell, I. G Troy. 

Brown, Azra Cincinnati. 

Brown, Jno. W East Baltimore. 

Brown, J. H East Baltimore. 

Castle, J. H Philadelphia. 

197 



Appendix. 



Name. Conference. 

Chalker, E. A New Jersey. 

Cooper, G. W. . . . East Baltimore. 

Crawford, Jas. M New York East. 

Crouch, C. J Philadelphia. 

Curnmings, Silas S Providence. 

Gushing, S. A New England. 

Doyan, J. F Black Eiver. 

De Forrest, J. A New Hampshire. 

Eddy, T. M Eock Eiver. 

Erwin, Jas Black Eiver. 

Faults, Jas. B Newark. 

Fluit, E Black Eiver. 

Freeman, J. M Newark. 

Gilbert, G. S New York East. 

Graves, A. S Oneida. 

Gregg, Wm. B Philadelphia. 

Hambleton, W. J New England. 

Hance, Edmund New Jersey. 

Hawes, Edward Indiana. 

Heysinger, J. L Philadelphia. 

High, W. C New England. 

Holman, C New Hampshire. 

Hwin, Henry F Philadelphia. 

Jackson, S New England. 

Janes, E. S. (Bishop) 

Kramer, Jno. W New Jersey. 

Lawrence, J Kansas. 

Lent, M. E New York. 

Little, C. J Philadelphia. 

Lore, Dallas D Genesee. 

Lybrand, G. W Philadelphia. 

McCullough, J. B Philadelphia. 

McLoughlin, Jas Philadelphia. 

McMillon, J Maine. 

Milby, Arthur W Philadelphia. 

Murphy, Thos. C Philadelphia. 

Myers, Thos Baltimore. 

Palmer, A. M Newark. 

Parker, Jas. E Detroit. 

Patterson, D. L Philadelphia. 

Pilcher, E. H Detroit. 

Eeed, Seth Detroit. 

Eissell, Jno Detroit. 

198 



Appendix. 

Name. Conference. 

Buth, Jno Philadelphia. 

Scott, Alex Pittsburgh. 

Shaw, W. H Genesee. 

Shove, Benj Oneida. 

Smith, J. B Central Illinois. 

Smith, Jos New York East. 

Taylor, Jno. C Pittsburgh. 

Taylor, W. H Central Ohio. 

Thomas, S. W Philadelphia. 

Thomas, C. F East Baltimore. 

Torrenee, I. H East Baltimore. 

Virgin, E. W New England. 

Wallace, H Newark. 

Westwood, H. C Baltimore. 

White, Jno. N 

Whitney, Nelson East Maine. 

Williomas, T. J .Newark. 

Winslow, E. D New England. 

Woods, F New England. 

Woolston, B. F New Jersey. 

Zimmerman, J Black Eiver. 

1864. 

Alday, J. H Philadelphia. 

Allen, John Philadelphia. 

Appleford, D Eock Eiver. 

Ashworth, J East Genesee. 

Austin, C. H Black Eiver. 

Bockus, A. L Genesee. 

Bailey, N. M New Hampshire. 

Baker, A. S East Genesee. 

Ballow, Geo. W Maine. 

Barber, E. E Black Eiver. 

Barnes, J. B Black Eiver. 

Barns, E. M Southeastern Indiana. 

Beale, S. H East Maine. 

Beggs, S. E Eock Eiver. 

Bennett, H. W. . Black Eiver. 

Bennett, P. S Wisconsin. 

Bent, G. E New England. 

Bingham, I. S Black Eiver. 

Bixby, Wm Oneida. 

Blakeslee, G. H Wyoming. 

199 



Appendix. 



Name. Conference. 

Boole, W. H New York East. 

Booth, Jno. F New York East. 

Boswell, W. L Philadelphia. 

Bowen, C. M Black Kiver. 

Breckenridge, E. W Wyoming. 

Brekenridge, J. S New York East. 

Brindle, Jas. A Philadelphia. 

Brooks, D Minnesota. 

Brown, Azra Cincinnati. 

Brown, A. H Pittsburgh. 

Brown, J. N Black Biver. 

Buck, W. D Genesee. 

Brown, S. E Black Biver. 

Buck, J. H Black Biver. 

Bull, J. M East Genesee. 

Bwidick, C. F Troy. 

Burr, W. N Oneida. 

Burt, Sylvester Pittsburgh. 

Bush, E. G Oneida. 

Callahan, D Cincinnati. 

Campbell, Jno New York. 

Carr, J. M Pittsburgh. 

Castle, J. H Philadelphia. 

Chapman, G. E New England. 

Chase, L. N New Hampshire. 

Chase, Moses Providence. 

Clark, J. L Western Virginia. 

Clark, Jonas M New England. 

Clarke, H. K 

Clarke, W. B New England. 

Clendenning, T. C Bock Biver. 

Collins, H. B Southeastern Indiana. 

Comfort, G Wyoming. 

Cookman, A New York. 

Cooper, Jas. W Philadelphia. 

Copeland, A. T Black Biver. 

Cordon, J. B Detroit. 

Coyle, Jno Newark. 

Cramer, M. J Cincinnati. 

Cullis, Wm. B New Jersey. 

Cunningham, J Philadelphia. 

Ciishing, S. A New England. 

Dayon, J. F Black Biver. 

200 



Appendix. 

Name. Conference. 

De Forrest, J. A New Hampshire. 

De Haas; F. S New York East. 

Dobbins, J. B New Jersey. 

Elliott, J. E Philadelphia. 

England, G. A Wisconsin. 

Erwin, J Black Eiver. 

Evans, J. G Central Hlinois. 

Faulks, J. B Newark. 

Feather, J. B Western Virginia. 

Fellows, Geo Wisconsin. 

Ferguson, A. H New York. 

Fletcher, J East Maine. 

Foster, Boswell East Maine. 

Fox, C. S East Genesee. 

Fox, H Oneida. 

Fulford, D Black Eiver. 

Fuller, S. E Black Eiver. 

Gardiner, Austin Providence. 

Gardiner, L. M East Baltimore. 

Gibson, O. L East Genesee. 

Godfrey, A. C East Maine. 

Gould, Albert New England. 

Graves, Prof. Jackson Troy. 

Gregg, W. B Philadelphia. 

Haines, Selden Des Moines. 

Hall, E North Indiana. 

Hall, Geo. A Troy. 

Hamilton, S. L Central Illinois. 

Hardy, J. B Iowa. 

Harlow, E. W Vermont. 

Hartsough, L Oneida. 

Hascall, W. M East Genesee. 

Hatfield, E. M New York East. 

Hawes, Edw Indiana. 

Hawks, Jno Maine. 

Haynes, Z. S Vermont. 

(Hill, J. B.) 

Hobart, G Northwest Wisconsin. 

(Holmes, J. M.) 

Hopkins, S. M Genesee. 

Hull, J. F Cincinnati. 

Hunt, S Genesee. 

Irwin, Jos. L .Western Virginia. 

201 



Appendix. 



Name. Conference. 

Jamison, J. M Ohio. 

Jaques, Parker Maine. 

Jewell, F. F Black Eiver. 

Johnson, Thos. S Illinois. 

Jones, J. F Pittsburgh. 

Jones, N Genesee. 

Kennedy, S. Y Pittsburgh. 

Kenyon, S. F Black Eiver. 

King, J. D Providence. 

King, S. W New York East. 

(Kline, J. A.) 

Kmett, J. B East Genesee. 

Knowles, J. H Genesee. 

Knox, J. D Pittsburgh. 

La Croix, Prof. P. J Ohio. 

Lane, J. W Southern Illinois. 

Lathrop, C. G Wisconsin. 

Lawrence, Jno Kansas. 

Leake, Thos Eock Eiver. 

Legate, O. M Black Eiver. 

Little, C. E Troy. 

Little, J. S Vermont. 

Littlewood, T New York East. 

Luce, Israel Vermont. 

Lytle, David Troy. 

Manning, Wm East Genesee. 

Markliam, W. F Cincinnati. 

Marlay, J. F Cincinnati. 

Marsh, J Erie. 

Marshall, W. K Pittsburgh. 

Martindale, T. E Philadelphia. 

Mason, C. C Maine. 

Mason, J Cincinnati. 

Mast, Isaac Philadelphia. 

McAllister, Wm New York East. 

McAnn, Isaac Vermont. 

McClelland, J. F Philadelphia. 

McCullough, J. B Philadelphia. 

McDonald, Wm Providence. 

McDowall, O. M Wyoming. 

McLaughlin, G. W Philadelphia. 

Mead, A. P Eock Eiver. 

Metcalf, Jno. E Vermont. 

202 



Appendix, 



Name. Conference. 

Miller, J. V. E North Indiana. 

Mitchell, Jno Maine. 

Moore, James D East Baltimore. 

Morell, J. F New Jersey. 

Morris, G. K New Jersey. 

Morrinson, J. B Southeastern Indiana. 

Morton, A. D Erie. 

Munger, E. H Black Kiver. 

Murphy, T. C Philadelphia. 

Newell, C. H '. New England. 

Newhouse, J. E Northwest Indiana. 

Nichols, Starr East Genesee. 

Noble, C New England. 

Norris, W. H ". New York East. 

Owen, A New Jersey. 

Paine, J. L Upper Iowa. 

Parker, Jno East Genesee. 

Parrott, Geo Cincinnati. 

Parsons, S Newark. 

Patterson, Samuel Philadelphia. 

Peck, Luther, Wyoming. 

Petty, A. L Pittsburgh. 

Pratt, A. L Vermont. 

Quigley, Geo Philadelphia. 

Eamsdell, S. L Detroit. 

Eauks, S wanton Maine. 

Eeasoner, J. E Kentucky. 

Eeed, J. C Northwest Indiana. 

Eequa, Henry "Wisconsin. 

Eeynolds, J. F Philadelphia. 

Eitchie, H Central Illinois. 

Eobei ts, J. W Philadelphia. 

Eoberts, Eobert Southern Indiana. 

Eobertson, D. A Southern Indiana. 

Eobinson, J. M Cincinnati. 

Eobinson, E. S Iowa. 

Eobinson, W. J East Maine. 

Eose, E. S Wyoming. 

Salisbury, A. B Genesee. 

Satchwell, H. P New England. 

Scott, A Pittsburgh. 

Sharp, J. M. C Southeastern Indiana. 

Shaw, L. L East Maine. 

203 



Appendix. 

Name. Conference. 

Shelling, Chas Genesee. 

Shier, Wm. H Detroit. 

Shinn, John Cincinnati. 

Simonson, W. H New York East. 

Smith, B North Indiana. 

Smith, C. W Pittsburgh. 

Smith, G. A Wisconsin. 

Smith, D Northwest Indiana. 

Smith, H Troy. 

Spencer, F. A Ohio. 

Steley, E. H Northwest Indiana. 

Steele, G. M New England. 

Stivers, T. S Ohio. 

Stowe, G Detroit. 

Stubbs, E. S New Hampshire. 

Sutton, Jos. S Detroit. 

Tait, T. B Erie. 

Taplin, G. P Yermont. 

Taylor, B. F Upper Iowa. 

Taylor, H. B Southern Illinois. 

Taylor, J. C Pittsburgh. 

Teed, David Eoek Eiver. 

Thomas, C. F East Baltimore. 

Thomas, S. W Philadelphia. 

Thompson, J. J Cincinnati. 

Tiffony, W. H Troy. 

Tonsey, Thos East Genesee. 

Townsend, G. H Yermont. 

Tuttle, J. K East Genesee. 

Yrooman, J Troy. 

Warner, H Yermont. 

Warner, P Central Illinois. 

Warren, H. W New England. 

Watkins, W. F New York East. 

Wells, M. S Oneida. 

Westwood, H. C Baltimore. 

Wheeler, H Wyoming. 

(White, A.) 

Whitney, Nelson East Maine. 

Whitlock, Prof. W. F Central Ohio. 

Widmer, F Troy. 

Williams, H. G New Jersey. 

Williams, J. E Indiana. 

204 



Appendix. 

Name. Conference. 

Wilson, B. F Missouri and Arkansas. 

Wohlgemuth, W East Genesee. 

Wood, A New Hampshire. 

Woodruff, G. W New York East. 

Young, Wm Cincinnati. 

1865. 

Alabaster, J East Genesee. 

Badgley, O Newark. 

Baker, Jno. E Wisconsin. 

Ball, F Western Virginia. 

Bancroft, Geo. C Vermont. 

Barkdull, T. N Central Ohio. 

Barnes, D. F Northwest Indiana. 

Bartels, Jno Central Illinois. 

Beatty, Bobert Erie. 

Benham, W. B East Genesee. 

Bolles, S Minnesota. 

Bower, A Central Illinois. 

Boyd, B. B Erie. 

Bradley, Wm East Genesee. 

Brigham, Alf Wyoming. 

Brooks, C. W Wisconsin. 

Brown, S. E Black River. 

Brown, W. N Upper Iowa. 

Bryont, Geo. W New Hampshire. 

Buckles, L. C Northwest Indiana. 

Capen, Jno. S New England. 

Carroll, Geo. K New York East. 

Chamberlayne, C. S Genesee. 

Clark, D. W. (Bishop) 

Coult, A. C New Hampshire. 

Crafts, F. A Providence. 

Damon, A. N Black Biver. 

Dinsmore, C. M New Hampshire. 

Eddy, C Genesee. 

Edwards, H. B Pittsburgh. 

Farrington, W. F Providence. 

Fitch (New York Mills, N. Y.) New York. 

Foster, A Wisconsin. 

Foster, Jno. Q Bock Biver. 

Fuller, A Black Biver. 

Furler, Franklin New England. 

205 



Appendix, 



Name. Conference. 

Gale, Solomon (G.) New York. 

Gee, A. A Northwest Indiana. 

Gill, J Vermont. 

Graves, Horace Black River. 

Graves, W. P Central Illinois. 

Grumley, E. S Wisconsin. 

Hall, Jno. H Oneida. 

Hartley, W. S Cincinnati. 

Hartupee, G. H North Ohio. 

Hawes, Edw Indiana. 

Hawkins, L Rock River. 

Henderson, J. R Central Ohio. 

Henson, Jos New York East. 

Hitchcock, J. C East Genesee. 

Hitchens, Geo New Jersey. 

Hobbs, H. A. Central Hlinois. 

Horton, A. A Erie. 

Hotchkiss, E East Genesee. 

Hoyt, James Michigan. 

Hunt, A. S New York East. 

Irwin, G. M Central Illinois. 

Janes, E. S. (Bishop) 

Johnson, W. C Philadelphia. 

Johnson, W. W Michigan. 

Jones, W East Genesee. 

King, C. A Maine. 

Klepper, J. W Minnesota. 

Lathrop, E Kentucky. 

Lawson, Jas West Wisconsin. 

Lee, Geo. D Michigan. 

Loriusberry, H New York. 

Lowe, Geo. W Detroit. 

Lyon, C. W New York. 

Marlay, J. F Cincinnati. 

Martin, H. L Rock River. 

Martin, J. W Rock River. 

Martin, N. H New England. 

Mason, J. W Cincinnati. 

McCabe, C. C Ohio. 

McClain, J. F Southeastern Indiana. 

McLean, C. F Upper Iowa. 

Meharry, A Cincinnati. 

Meville, J. H New England. 

206 



Appendix. 

Name. Conference. 

Moore, J. H Illinois. 

Nadal, B. H Baltimore. 

Norton, J. D Erie. 

Osborne, W. M West Wisconsin. 

Patterson, Robert Troy. 

Pearne, T. H Holston. 

Pike, J New Hampshire. 

Picher, J. N Ohio. 

Porter, Jeremiah New England. 

Potter, Wm East Genesee. 

Prettyman, W Ohio. 

Ritchie, H Central Illinois. 

Robbing, J. C Wisconsin. 

Ross, Jas. H East Genesee. 

Smith, Jesse Minnesota. 

Smith, Wm. A Rock River. 

Stevenson, T Southern Illinois. 

Taylor, G. L New York East. 

Taylor, J. D Central Illinois. 

Tinsley, Chas Southeastern Indiana. 

Tupper, Samuel New England. 

Vance, Jos Cincinnati. 

Viele, A Troy. 

Virgin, E. W New England. 

Wallser, T Wisconsin. 

Wallace, H Illinois. 

Wasmuth, E Central Illinois. 

Waters, W. G Central Ohio. 

Wayne, Jos Genesee. 

Wells, M. L Southeastern Indiana. 

Wheeler, A North Ohio. 

Wight, W. H Vermont. 

Williams, M Erie. 



207 



APPENDIX C. 

Letter to Jefferson Davis By a Confederate 
Officer, Concerning Bishop Ames. 

Office of Commissary of Substance 

and Quartermaster Cavalry Brigade. 

Gainesville, Prince William Co., Ya. 

February 5, 1862. 

His Excellency Jefferson Davis, 

President of the Confederate States. 
Sir : I hope you will pardon this intrusion. A sense 
of duty impels rue to write to you and, if you will not 
consider it presumption, utter a word of warning. I 
see that Rev. Bishop Ames, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in the United States has accepted the appoint- 
ment as one of the proposed visitors and inspectors of 
Richmond prisoners of war and their prisons. I know 
not whether they will be allowed to enter our lines and 
prosecute their mission or not. I do, however, know 
Bishop Ames. He has been for many years a shrewd 
and potent politician. I am myself a Methodist preacher 
and have been for nineteen years. I have been a mem- 
ber of the Baltimore Conference stationed for some 
years past in Baltimore and Washington cities. I was 
in charge of a congregation in Baltimore when our 
present troubles burst forth upon us. I resigned my con- 
gregation in June and came to my native Virginia to 
do whatever I might for her and the South. I was im- 
mediately called into the activities of the present strug- 
gle, — first as a lieutenant in a company of mounted rifle- 
men, then through Col. J. E. Stuart's solicitations 
and recommendation you gave me the appointment of 

208 



Appendix. 

chaplain to the First Virginia Cavalry, and subsequently 
my present position upon General J. E. B. Stuart's 
staff as major and chief of staff to his brigade. Excuse 
this apparent announcement of myself rather than an- 
other, about whom I proposed writing. I hope it will 
enable you the better to appreciate the feeble monitions 
I desire to express and the motives that prompt it. 

For many years the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which I am an humble minister, has been fearfully agi- 
tated and cursed by the same class of fanatics that have 
now brought this terrible disaster upon the Nation. It 
was in vain that we of the border strove to stem this 
maddened current. It swept onward and onward de- 
spite all varieties of pleadings and remonstrances, bear- 
ing down one safeguard after another, till it reached its 
culmination in the legislation of our late General Con- 
ference, held in Buffalo last May one year. Subse- 
quently the ministers and the laity of our Conference 
voted themselves from under the jurisdiction of the said 
General Conference. In all this protracted controversy 
Bishop Ames's sympathies, and indeed most of our 
bishops were with the North. I know Bishop Ames to 
be an uncompromising anti-slavery man, not to say abo- 
litionist. He with other members of the bench of bishops 
sought to impress upon the present President of the 
United States and his Cabinet upon their accession to 
power the fact that the Methodist Church, very numer- 
ous in the North and West, had peculiar claims upon the 
Government for a liberal share of the spoils of office, 
as they had so largely contributed to Mr. Lincoln's elec- 
tion, at the same time disavowing any particular claim 
upon the outgoing administration. I might detail many 
facts to corroborate this representation of the dangerous 
and corrupt antecedents of this high Church dignitary, 
but I fear it might weary you. Suffice it to say that I 
am positively certain, from personal knowledge, that 
Bishop Ames, with many others whom I might name of 
14 209 



Appendix. 

high position in our Church in the North, have aided 
most fearfully by the influence of their position and 
their known sentiments to augment the power of the abo- 
lition party in the North, and to precipitate the horrid 
and unnatural alienation and bloody war in which we 
are now engaged. We are now forced to the terrible 
necessity in the vindication and defense of our most 
sacred and cherished rights to sacrifice many of the best 
and noblest of our brothers upon freedom's altars; but 
let us meanwhile beware of those who have forced us into 
this attitude of defense against the most iniquitous and 
oppressive tyranny ever attempted to be imposed upon 
an enlightened people. 

Allow me, in conclusion, Mr. President, to warn you 
against this astute politician, who in the garb of a Chris- 
tian minister and with the specious plea of "humanity" 
upon his lips, would insinuate himself into the very 
heart of that Government whose very foundation he 
would most gladly sap and destroj^. You can make any 
use of this letter your judgment dictates, and if you 
deem it worthy of attention you will pardon the liberty 
I have taken in view of the patriotic motives which have 
prompted it. I respectfully refer you to Wyndham 
Robertson, Esq., of your city, if you deem it necessary 
to know me further before considering the information 
I have communicated. 

Most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Darbey Ball. 

From the ' ' Official Records, ' ' Series II, vol. iii, pp. 787, 788. 



210 



APPENDIX D. 

Patriotic Addresses of Bishop Simpson. 

The bishop began his lecture in the Academy of 
Music in New York in 1864 by saying: 

"I would stand far above all party; I have no epi- 
thets for any of my fellow-citizens. [As it was his pur- 
pose to give his discourse a firm body of logic, he out- 
lined four possible issues of the war.] First: It is a 
possible result of this conflict that we may become a prey 
to some foreign powers and be reduced under their 
control. There is a second possible result of this contest : 
that the Nation may be divided into two or more sepa- 
rate confederacies. There is a third possible issue: 
that the Nation may remain united, but with its 
present institutions overthrown, and Southern institu- 
tions and Southern ideas established. The fourth 
and last possible issue is that our Nation, having passed 
through this fiery ordeal, may come out of it purer, 
stronger, and more glorious than ever before. At this 
point I will simply say that I believe it to be the de- 
sign of Providence to secure the last result. Taking up 
the first topic. No great nation has, in all history, risen 
and fallen in a single century. Moreover, there are 
indications to show that this is destined to be a great 
Nation in the earth. The discovery of America by Co- 
lumbus, at the time thereof, was opportune. This Nation 
has done more than any other to fulfill a great destiny. 
One thing it has done towards the accomplishment of 
its work is the education of the masses. In this land 
all may rise to the highest offices. The humblest cabin- 
boy may lead our armies, and the poor hostler may sit 
in the Senate. Who has not heard of Henry Clay, the 

211 



Appendix. 

Millboy of the Slashes, and Jackson, the child of poor 
Irish parents! And some may have heard that even a 
rail-splitter may become President ! Again, this Nation 
is an asylum for all the nations of the earth. There is 
no large migration to any other land, but men come here 
from all parts of the world. I have no feeling of sym- 
pathy with any person who will seek to exclude from 
free national association all who may come. We have 
broad acres for them to cultivate, schools for their chil- 
dren and churches for themselves, and a Constitution 
broad enough, thank God! and strong enough for all 
the world to stand upon. This Nation has the sympathy 
of the masses all over the earth, and if the world is to 
be raised to its proper place, I would say it with all 
reverence, God can not do without America. 

' ' Then comes the second question, Shall the Nation be 
divided ? If we divide, where shall we divide ? We have 
no mountain chains, no great natural landmarks to sepa- 
rate us into two; and if we divide, must it not be into 
several confederacies? If you allow the South to go, 
then the Northwest will become a separate confederacy ; 
and when the Northwest undertakes that, the people of 
the Pacific Coast will set up for themselves, and you will 
lose all that gold-bearing country. I tell you here to- 
day, I would not give one cent on the dollar for your 
National liabilities if you allow a single dividing line 
to be run through your country from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. I deprecate war, it is terrible; much of the 
best blood of the Nation has flowed, and more, possibly, 
will moisten the earth ; but if we should divide this land 
into petty sections, there will come greater strife, which 
will waste the blood of your children and grandchildren, 
and there will be sorrow and wailing throughout the 
generations to come. When I look at this dark picture, 
much as I dislike war, I yet say, better now fight for 
twenty years and have peace than stop where we are. 
If any peace is had, I want a peace which shall be last- 

212 



Appendix. 

ing, so that I can leave my wife and children safe when 
I die, and that can only be by our remaining a united 
Nation. We have glorious boundaries on the north and 
the south, on the east and the west, and when I look 
at those boundaries I say, 'Palsied be the hand which 
shall try to wrest from us one foot of this great domain. ' 
' ' Then the question comes, ' Shall our form of govern- 
ment be changed?' This is what Mr. Davis expects; he 
can hardly suppose the South will live in separation. 
They at the South expected that this great city would 
declare itself independent ; but this city has a heart that 
throbs in sympathy with the Nation, and stands out, 
as it ought, as the National metropolis. The South hopes 
for a monarchy, but this Nation will never tolerate a 
monarchy. 

"If these three results are not likely to happen, then 
shall we, as a people, emerge from this contest purer 
and more glorious than before. The Nation must be 
purified, and for that we are going through the war. 
The war is nothing new; the South has been preparing 
for it for thirty years. At the same time a series of 
proAddences has appeared which shows the hand of God. 
"I have one more impression, that if this war lasts 
much longer slavery will be damaged. It is seriously 
damaged now, and I hope and desire that it may pass 
away quickly and let us see the last of it. Do you ask 
what has been accomplished? The District of Columbia 
has been made free, and this week — on the last Tuesday 
— the sun, as it rose, shone for the first time on the 
glorious State of Maryland. West Virginia, from her 
mountain home, echoes back the shouts of freedom. But 
this war ought not to be carried on for the purpose 
of destroying slavery, or for any other than the single 
purpose of restoring the authority of our Government. 
But if, while we are striking blows at the rebellion, 
slavery will come and put its black head between us and 
the rebels, then let it perish along with them. Our chil- 

213 



Appendix. 

dren can look back to the battles of the Revolution and 
assure themselves that their fathers were worthy of 
freedom. Let the children of these poor slaves have the 
chance to look back not only to Fort Pillow, but to the 
battles fought and won in front of Petersburg and Rich- 
mond, and they will feel that they, too, are worthy of 
freedom. It has been demonstrated in this war that a 
blue coat can make a hero even of a sable skin. The 
black men have long ago learned to follow the stars; 
they have followed the North Star successfully, and now 
it is shown that they can follow, as well as any others, 
the stars that are set in our glorious flag. 

"Your Fifty-fifth Regiment carried this flag [taking 
up a war-worn, shot-riddled flag, which was greeted 
with tremendous cheers] ; it has been at Newbern. and 
at South Mountain, and at Antietam. The blood of 
our brave boys is upon it ; the bullets of rebels have gone 
through and through it ; yet it is the same old flag. Our 
fathers followed that flag; we expect that our children 
and our children's children will follow it; there is noth- 
ing on earth like that old flag--for beauty. Long may 
those stars shine ! Just now there are clouds upon it 
and mists gathering around it, but the stars are coming 
out, and others are joining them. And they grow 
brighter and brighter, and so may they shine till the 
last star in the heavens shall fall ! ' ' x 

Oration of Bishop Simpson at the Grave of 
Lincoln. 

"Fellow-Citizens of Illinois and Many Parts of 
Our Entire Union: Near the capital of this large and 
growing State of Illinois, in the midst of this beautiful 
grove, and at the open mouth of the vault which has 
just received the remains of our fallen chieftain, we 
gather to pay a tribute of respect and drop the tears 
of sorrow. A little more than four years ago he left 

brooks. "Life of Simpson," pp. 379-3S3. 

214 



Appendix. 

his plain and quiet home in yonder city, receiving the 
parting words of the concourse of friends who in the 
midst of the droppings of a gentle shower gathered 
around him. He spoke of the pain of leaving the place 
where his children had been born, and where his home 
had been rendered so pleasant by many recollections. 
And as he left he made an earnest request in the hear- 
ing of some who are present at this hour, that as he 
was about to enter upon responsibilities which he be- 
lieved to be greater than those which had fallen upon 
any man since the days of "Washington, the people would 
offer up their prayers that God would aid and sustain 
him in the work they had given him to do. His com- 
pany left your city; but as it went, snares were set 
for the Chief Magistrate. Scarcely did he escape the 
dangers of the way or the hand of the assassin as he 
neared Washington. I believe he escaped only through 
the vigilance of the officers and the prayers of the peo- 
ple, so that the blow was suspended for more than 
four years, which was at last permitted, through the 
providence of God, to fall. 

"How different the occasion which witnessed his 
departure from that which witnessed his return ! Doubt- 
less you expected to take him by the hand, to feel the 
warm grasp which you felt in other days, and to see 
the tall form among you which you had delighted to 
honor in years past. But he was never permitted to re- 
turn until he came with lips mute, his frame encoffined, 
and a weeping Nation following. Such a scene as his 
return to you was never witnessed. Among the events 
of history there have been great processions of mourn- 
ers. There was one for the Patriarch Jacob, which went 
out of Egypt, and the Canaanites wondered at the evi- 
dence of reverence and filial affection which came from 
the hearts of the Israelites. There was mourning when 
Moses fell upon the heights of Pisgah and was hid 
from human view. There has been mourning in the 

215 



Appendix. 

kingdoms of the earth when kings and princes have 
fallen. But never was there in the history of man 
such mourning as that which has attended this progress 
to the grave. If we look at the multitudes that followed 
him we can see how the Nation stood aghast when it 
heard of his death. Tears filled the eyes of manly, sun- 
burned faces. Strong men, as they grasped the hands 
of their friends, were unable to find vent for their grief 
in words. Women and children caught up the tidings 
as they ran through the land, and were melted into tears. 
The Nation stood still. Men left their plows in the 
fields and asked what the end should be. The hum of 
manufactories ceased, and the sound of the hammer was 
not heard. Busy merchants closed their doors, and in the 
Exchange gold passed no more from hand to hand. 
Though three weeks have elapsed, the Nation has scarcely 
breathed easily. Men of all political parties and of all 
religious creeds have united in paying this tribute. The 
archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in New York 
and a Protestant minister walked side by side in the 
sad procession, and a Jewish rabbi performed a part of 
the solemn service. Here are gathered around his tomb 
the representatives of the army and navy, senators, 
judges, and officers of all the branches of the Govern- 
ment. Here, too, are members of civic professions, with 
men and women from the humblest as well as the highest 
occupations. Here and there, too, are tears — as sincere 
and warm as any that drop — which come from the eyes 
of whose kindred and whose race have been freed from 
their chains by him whom they mourn as their deliverer. 
More races have looked on the procession for sixteen hun- 
dred miles — by night and by day, by sunlight, dawn, 
twilight, and by torchlight — than ever before watched 
the progress of a procession on its way to the grave. 

''A part of this deep interest has arisen from the 
times in which we live and in which he who has fallen 
was a leading actor. It is a principle of our nature 

216 



Appendix. 

that feelings, once excited, tnrn readily from the object 
by which they are aroused to some other object, which 
may for the time being take possession of the mind. 
Another law of our nature is that our deepest affections 
gather about some human form in which are incarnated 
the living thoughts of the age. If we look, then, at 
the times, we see an age of excitement. [These thoughts 
were copiously illustrated.] 

"The tidings came that Richmond was evacuated, 
and that Lee had surrendered. The bells rang merrily 
all over the land. The booming of cannon was heard; 
illuminations and torchlight processions manifested the 
general joy, and families looked for the speedy return 
of their loved ones from the field. Just in the midst of 
this, in one hour — nay, in one moment — the news was 
flashed throughout the land that Abraham Lincoln had 
perished by the hand of an assassin; and then all the 
feeling which had been gathering for four years, in 
forms of excitement, grief, horror, joy, turned into one 
wail of woe — a sadness inexpressible. But it is not 
the character of the times, merely, which has made this 
mourning; the mode of his death must be taken into 
the account. Had he died with kind friends around 
him; had the sweat of death been wiped from his brow 
by gentle hands while he was yet conscious — how it 
would have softened or assuaged something of our grief ! 
But no moment of warning was given to him or to us. 
He was stricken down, too, when his hopes for the 
end of the rebellion were bright, and prospects of a 
calmer life were before him. There was a Cabinet meet- 
ing that day, said to have been the most cheerful of any 
held since the beginning of the rebellion. After this 
meeting he talked with his friends, and spoke of the four 
years of tempest, of the storm being over, and of the 
four years of content now awaiting him, as the weight 
of care and anxiety would be taken from his mind. In 
the midst of these anticipations he left his house, never 

217 



Appendix. 

to return alive. The evening was Good Friday, the 
saddest day in the whole calendar for the Christian 
Church. So filled with grief was every Christian heart 
that even the joyous thoughts of Easter Sunday failed 
to remove the sorrow under which the true worshiper 
bowed in the house of God. 

"But the chief reason for this mourning is to be 
found in the man himself. [Here follows a summary 
of the character of Lincoln.] 

"Standing, as we do to-day, by his coffin, let us re- 
solve to carry forward the policy so nobly begun. Let 
us do right to all men. Let us vow, before heaven, to 
eradicate every vestage of human slavery ; to give every 
human being his true position before God and man; to 
crush every form of rebellion, and to stand by the flag 
which God has given us. How joyful that it floated over 
parts of every State before Mr. Lincoln's career was 
ended ! How singular that to the fact of the assassin 's 
heel being caught in the folds of the flag we are probably 
indebted for his capture. The time will come when, in 
the beautiful words of him whose lips are now forever 
sealed, 'the mystic chords of memory, which stretch from 
every battlefield and from every patriot's grave, shall 
yield a sweeter music when touched by the angels of 
our better nature. ' 

' ' Chieftain, farewell ! The Nation mourns thee. 
Mothers shall teach thy name to their lisping children. 
The youth of our land shall emulate thy virtues. States- 
men shall study thy record, and from it learn lessons of 
wisdom. Mute though thy lips be, yet they still speak. 
Hushed is thy voice, but its echoes of liberty are ringing 
through the world, and the sons of bondage listen with 
joy. Thou didst fall not for thyself. The assassin had 
no hate for thee. Our hearts were aimed at; our Na- 
tional life was sought. We crown thee as our martyr, 
and Humanity enthrones thee as her triumphant son. 
Hero, martyr, friend, farewell!" 

218 



APPENDIX E. 

Preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, in the Confederate Army. 

The statement has been commonly made that the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was as loyal to the 
Confederate cause as was the Methodist Episcopal 
Church to the cause of the Union, and a careful investi- 
gation of the facts will bear out this statement. I have 
made a list of the Methodist (South) chaplains in the 
Confederate Army, though it is far from complete, 
owing to the fact that a number of the Southern Confer- 
ences did not meet during the war, and also to the fact 
that the Minutes of several of the Conferences which 
did hold their sessions were lost. This list by Confer- 
ences is as follows : 

Tennessee Conference.! Wilson, E. A. 

Pitts, Fountain E. Petway, F. S. 

Ellis, John A. Browning, W. H. 

Cullom, Jeremiah W. Gould, J. H. 

Edmondson, K. A. Lovell, J. W. 

Stephens, Berry M. Smith, B. F. 

Eichey, James H. Bolton, J. G. 

Cherry, Sterling M. Harrison, J. G. 
Kimball, Francis A. 

Hamilton Alex. F. Holston Conference. 

Whitten, Moses L. Bowman, W. C. 

Purtle, John M. Sullins, D. 

Williams, Marcus G. Manpin, Milton. 

Hunter, E. S. Wiggins, Joseph A. 

Cross, Joseph. Wexler, Edwin C. 

Bailey, William M. Farley, Francis A. 

Tribber, Allen. Callahan, George W. 

1 There were no sessions of the Tennessee Conference in 1863 
or 1864, and the above list is for the two first years of the war 
only. 

219 



Appendix. 



Glenn, Thos. F. 
Waugh, Henry P. 
Stringfield, J. K. 

Memphis Conference. 1 
Crouch, Benj. T. 
Hamilton, Ephraim E. 
Fife, J. A. 
„ Owen, Wm. B. 
Payne, Wm. S. 
Haskell, Wm. C. 
Bwins, E. H. 
Ford, Miles H. 
Duke, Thos. L. 
Deavenport, Thos. H. 
McCutchen, Jos. B. 
Mahon, Wm. J. 
Porter, Eobt. G. 
Pearson, W. G. 
Mclver, J. W. 
Johnson, W. C. 

Mississippi Conference. 
Godfrey, James A. 
Swinney, S. T. 
Ard, J. W. 
Eichardson, J. P. 
Mortimer, Geo. J. 
Ely, Foster. 
Johnson, Pickney A. 
Nicholson, A. B. 
Young, Newton B. 
Boyls, Geo. W. 

Louisiana Conferences 
White, Fredrick. 

Virginia Conference. 
Granberry, J. C. 
Joyner, James E. 



August, P. F. 
Berry, Wm. W. 
Woggoner, James E. 
MeSparran, James E. 
Anderson, J. M. 
Booker, Geo. E. 
Fitzpatrick, Jas. B. 
Garland, Jas. P. 
Edwards, Wm. E. 
Hardee, Bobert, Jr. 
Duncan, Wm. W. 
Ware, Thos. A. 
Bledsoe, Adam C. 
Beodles, Eobt. B. 
Hoyle, Samuel Y. 
Lafferty, John J. 
Spiller, Benj. C. 
Hammond, Wesley C. 
Blackwell, John D. 
Wheelwright, W. H. 

West Virginia Conferences 

North Carolina Conference. 
Betts, A. D. 
Brent, O. J. 
Buie, John D. 
Bobbins, Jeffrey H. 
Wood, Franklin H. 
Webb, Eichard S. 
Dodson, C. C. 
Plyler, Calvin. 
Eichardson, W. B. 
Hines, J. J. 
Alford, A. B. 
Moore, Wm. H. 
Wilson, E. A. 
Pepper, C. M. 
Long, J. S. 
Gutfrie, Benj. F. 



1 No Minutes for 1864. 

2 There are no records for 1862, 1863, 1864. The number of 
chaplains from this Conference, very probably, much larger than 
here indicated. 

8 There are no records of the Conference during the war. 

220 



Appendix. 



South Carolina Conference. 
Fleming, Wm. H. 
Stephens, Alex. B. 
Ervin, James S. 
Power, Wm. C. 
Allston, Eobt. B. 
Miller, John W. 
Hemmingway, W. A. 
Meynardie, Chas. J. 
Black, Wm. S. 
Kennedy, Francis M. 
Thompson, Eugene W. 
Tart, James H. 
Wells, Geo. H. 
Snow, J. J. 
Brown, M. 
Campbell, James B. 
Moore, H. D. 
Wells, A. N. 
Moore, A. W. 
Johnson, L. A. 
Hill, S. J. 
Mood, F. A. 

Georgia Conference. 
Jordan, Thos. H. 
Eeynolds, John A. 
Smith, Geo. G. 
Washburn, John H. 
Yarbrough, Geo. W. 
Simmons, Wm. A. 
Cone, Wm. H. C. 
Talley, John W. 
Jackson, James B. 
Boland, Elijah N. 
Kramer, Geo. 
Thigpen, Alex. M. 
Strickland, John. 
Oslin, W. W. 
Dunlap, W. C. 
Eush, L. 
Sparks, J. O. A. 
Cook, J. O. A. 
Troywick, J. W. 



Dodge, Wm. A. 
Jarrell, Anderson J. 
Malony, Wm. C. 
Lesler, Eobt. B. 

Alabama Conference. 
McBryde, Alexander. 
Campbell, James M. 
Andrews, A. S. 
Wier, T. C. 
McVoy, A. D. 
Perry, W. G. 
Grace, J. J. 
Jones, A. M. 
Stone, J. B. 
Feith, Wm. 
Johnson, W. G. 
Ellis, C. C. 
Connerly, D. C. B. 
Eutledge, Thos. C. 
Gillis, Neil. 
Talley, Geo. E. 
McFerrin, J. P. 
Wardlow, F. A. 
Norton, W. F. 
Selman, B. L. 

Mobile Conference. 
Perry, J. W. 
Gregory, J. T. M. 
Kavanaugh, H. H. 
Fikes, A. M. 
Stone, H. C. 
McGeher, Lucius. 

Florida Conference. 

Truberlake, John W. 
Pratt, Geo. W. 
Kennedy, Wm. M. 
Wiggins, Eobert L. 
Evans, Eobert F. 

Texas Conference. 
Perry, Benj. F. 
Cox, F. J. 
Brooks, C. H. 



221 



Appendix. 



Kay, E. P. Jewel, Horace. 

Addison, O. M. Chamberlain, Wm. 

Phillips, P. Harvey, James E. 

Parks, W. A. Tyson, Thos. S. 

Glass, H. M. Davis, Wm. J. 

Johnson, L. H. 

East Texas Conference.! Harrison, E. R 

Stovall, David M. Wells, M. H. 

Collins, W. C. Johnson, B. G. 

Hill, Wm. B. Evans, G. W. 
Joyce, W. J. 

Smith, John C. Arkansas Conference. 

Manion, A. B. Eoberts, E. R 

Bobbins, W. M. Mackey, James. 



Williams, J. A. 
Lee, B. 
Eatcliffe, Wm. P. Harris, Benoni. 



Wachita Conference 

Eatcliffe, Wm. P. 

Winfield, Augustus E. Eice, John H 



No Minutes were returned for the Missouri, St. Louis, 
Kansas Mission, or the Pacific Conferences during the 
four years of the war. A number of ministers of the 
Church South from West Virginia, Kentucky, and Mis- 
souri became chaplains in the Union Army, and twelve 
of their names appear in the lists of Union chaplains. 

This list of Confederate chaplains from the Methodist 
Episcopal Church South totals 209. The large numbers 
contributed by some of the Southern Conferences is sur- 
prising. The Tennessee Conference contributed 24; the 
Virginia and South Carolina, 22 each; Georgia Confer- 
ence, 23; the Albany,' 20; the Memphis, 16; and the 
North Carolina, 15. 

Besides these regular chaplains a considerable num- 
ber of ministers went as missionaries to the Confederate 
armies, performing duties similar to those performed by 
the ministerial delegates of the United States Christian 
Commission. 

1 The Minutes of this Conference for 1862 and 1863 were not 
turned in for publication. They are probably lost. 

222 



Appendix. 



The names of these missionaries and their Confer- 
ences are: 



Holston Conference. 
Dickey, J. W. 

Mississippi Conference. 
Wheat, John J. 
Harrington, Whitfield. 
Shelton, James H. 
Andrews, C. Green. 
Hummeutt, Wm. F. C. 

Virginia Conference. 
Eosser, Leonidas. 
Cranberry, John C. 

Georgia Conference. 
Yarbrough, Geo. W. 
Payne, E. B. 
Stewart, Thos. H. 
Thigpen, Alex. M. 
McGehee, J. W. 
Pierce, Thomas F. 
Turner, J. W. 
Lester, Eobt. B. 
Harbin, T. B. 



Alabama Conference. 
Hutchinson, J. J. 
Brandon, F. T. J. 
Hamill, E. J. 
Edwards, Wm. B. 
Taturn, I. L. 
Dabbs, C. L. 
Parker, J. A. 

Florida Conference. 
Duncan, Erastus B. 
Giles, Enoch H. 

Texas Conference. 
Seat, W. H. 
South, H. W. 
Glass, H. M. 
Cook, T. F. 
Ahrens, J. B. 

Wachita Conference. 
McKennon, H. D. 



The work of the Methodist chaplains in the Confed- 
erate armies was very similar to that already described 
in the Northern armies. It is stated that "unusual re- 
ligious interest" prevailed in the army of Northern 
Virginia, it being especially pronounced in "Stonewall" 
Jackson's corps. "Jackson's men built log chapels for 
regular services, and their general aided religious work 
among them, taking pains to provide them with chap- 
lains. General Lee did the same, and not only his chap- 
lains, but his chief of artillery, General William A. 
Pendleton, held services and preached every Sunday and 
during the week as well, whenever the army was not 
fighting or marching. Prayer-meetings and revivals 
were common in camps, and at these generals were as 

223 



Appendix. 

active and conspicuous as in a battle. Itinerant preach- 
ers and ' circuit riders ' were guests always welcomed and 
better treated than any other visitors." 1 

Large numbers of the preachers of the Church South 
who died during the war were or had been chaplains in 
the Confederate army or had been connected with the 
war more or less intimately, the death of most of them 
being directly due to this cause. 2 

Not only were there large numbers of preachers from 
the Church South serving as chaplains in the Confeder- 
ate armies, as we have seen, but also an exceptionally 
large number of them were to be found as commissioned 
officers and in the ranks. I have gone through the Min- 
utes of the Conferences of the Church South for the 
war, and have compiled the following table of preachers 
who were not chaplains but were serving the Confeder- 
acy in the capacity of ordinary soldiers or officers : 

Tennessee Conference 13 

Holston Conference 2 

Memphis Conference 10 

Mississippi Conference 12 

Louisiana Conference 1 

Virginia Conference 9 

North Carolina Conference 7 

South Carolina Conference 14 

Georgia Conference 14 

Alabama Conference 19 

Florida Conference 8 

JRio Grande Conference 5 

Texas Conference 16 

Wachita Conference 11 

Total 141 

1 ' ' The Civil War from a Southern Standpoint, " by W. E. Gar- 
rett and R, A. Halley, ' ' p. 338. 

2 This information is gained from the memoirs of deceased 
members, found in Volume II of General Minutes of the Church 
South. 

224 



Appendix. 

This list is incomplete, owing to the fact that there 
are no records for several of the Conferences. It is 
very probably true that there were at least as many 
Methodist preachers in the Southern armies serving as 
soldiers (non-chaplains) as in the Union armies. 



225 



APPENDIX F. 



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226 



INDEX. 



American Bible Society, 166-168. 
Ames, Bishop E. R., 88, 89, 98, 102, 

142, 143, 151-154, 208-210. 
Andrew, Bishop James O., 24, 25. 
Anti-Slavery Journals, 21. 
Anti-Slavery Societies, 19-21. 
Arkansas Conference, 31. 
Asbury, Francis, 16, 17. 
Atlantic Conferences, 70-79. 



B 



Baker, Bishop, O. C, 88, 99, 142, 143, 

150. 
Baltimore Christian Advocate, 55, 114. 
Baltimore Conference, 47, 49, 50. 
Baptist Church — 

Slavery Contest in, 27, 42. 

Missions in South, 99. 

Periodicals, 129. 
Bartine, D. W., 70. 
Black River Conference, 76. 
Boston Preachers' Meeting, 67, 68, 97, 

137. 
Butler, Gen. B. F., 96, 113, 169, 170. 
"Butternuts," 86 and Note. 



Calhoun, John C, 42. 

Central Christian Advocate, 35, 36, 87, 

121-125. 
Central Ohio Conference, 82. 
Chaplains — 

Laws regulating, 135, 136. 

Letter to Senator Wilson concerning, 

134. 
Methodist, 138, 139. 
Names of Methodist, 188-195. 
Christian Advocate and Journal, 23, 35, 

39, 45, 59, 60, 61, 76, 114-117, 

129, 130, 138. 
Christian Apologist, 128, 131. 
Cincinnati Conference, 81, 130, 131. 
Clark, D. W., 132, 159. 
Clay, Henry, 40. 

Conferences, Early General, 16-24. 
Conferences, General, 1844, 24-26; 

1848, 34; 1856, 38; 1860, 39, 47, 

112; 1864, 87-92. 
Connecticut, 63. 
Cookman, Alfred, 70. 
"Copperheads," 86. 
Crooks, Geo. R., 70, 72. 
Cummings, Joseph, 88, 89. 
Curry, Daniel, 72. 



East Baltimore Conference, 47, 48, 50- 

51. 
East Genesee Conference, 76. 
Eddy, T. A., 88, 125-127. 
Elliott, Charles, 39, 87, 88, 89, 114-117. 
Erie Conference, 76. 



Fisk, Gen. Clinton B., 94. 

Mrs. Clinton B., 60. 
Foster, R. S., 70, 88. 
Freedmen, Organizations for aiding, 168- 

176. 
Fremont, Gen. John C, 112, 113. 
Fugitive Slave Bill, 41. 



Garrison, William L ? , 19. 
Genesee Conference, 75. 
German Conferences, 80. 
Gettysburg, 78. 
Grant, U. S., 108, 150. 



Harper's Weekly, 148, 157, 158. 
Haven, E, O., 132. 
Haven, Gilbert, 64, 137. 
Hicks, Governor, 49, 51. 



Indiana, 80, 86. 

Conferences in, 82, 83. 
Illinois, 80. 

Conferences in, 83-85. 
Iowa, 80, 86. 

Conferences in, 85. 



Janes, Bishop E, S., 88, 99, 142, 144- 
146, 149. 



Kansas — 

Struggle between Churches in, 29, 32- 
34. 

Conference, 87. 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 44. 
Kentucky, 56, 57. 

Conference (M. E.) 47, 48. 

M. E, Church, South, 57. 
Kingsley, Charles, 88, 117-121, 132, 159. 



Delaware, 63. 
Disciplines, Early, 17-19. 
Douglas, Stephen A., 44. 
Durbin, J. P., 36, 70. 



Ladies' Repository, 128. 
Liberator, The, 19. 

Lincoln, A., 49, 89, 90, 91, 107, 108, 
115, 133, 134. 



227 



Index. 



Maine, 63. 

McAnally, Dr., 59. 

McClellan, Gen. Geo. B., 168. 

McClintock, John, 70, 145-149. 

McPheeters Case, 104-106. 

Massachusetts, 63. 

Maryland, 47, 49, 51. 

Methodist, The, 111, 116 and Note. 

Methodist Book Concern, 79. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, South — 

Organization, 25, 26. 

Part in the War, 219-225. 

Oppose action of M. E. Church in 
South, 102-104. 
Michigan, 80. 

Conference in, 85. 
Minnesota, 80. 
Missouri — 

Struggle between Churches in, 29, 30, 
31, 58-62. 

Military Interference with Churches 
in, 104-108. 

Conference (M. E.), 47, 48. 
Missionary Society, M. E. Church, 62, 

100. 
Moodv, Granville, 81, 87, 88, 90. 
Morris, Bishop Thomas A., 88, 142, 144. 



N 



Nashville and Louisville Christian Advo- 
cate, 45. 
Newark Conference, 73, 74. 
New England, 44, 63-69. 
Negroes — 

Early attitude of Government towards, 
168, 169. 

Employment of, by commanders, 169- 
171. 
New Hampshire, 63. 
New Jersey, 73. 

Conference, 74. 
New Orleans, 96. 
New York, 63. 

Conference, 72, 73. 

East Conference, 70-72. 
Northern Christian Advocate, 35. 
Northwestern Christian Advocate, 35, 

36, 38, 125-127. 
North Ohio Conference, 81. 
Newman, John P., 70, 108, 159. 



Odell, Hon M. F. 
Ohio, 80. 



71, 72. 



Pacific Christian Advocate, 128. 

Paddock, G. W., 71, 87. 

Peck, Jesse T., 88, 89. 

Periodicals, Methodist, 111, 112, 128. 

Periodicals M. E. Church, South, 128, 

129. 
Pennsylvania, 63, 77. 



Philadelphia, 77, 78. 

Conference, 47, 48, 52, 53, 92. 
Pittsburgh Conference, 76. 
Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, 55, 76, 

128. 
Presbyterian Church — 

Slavery Contest in, 26, 27. 

Missions in South, 99. 
Protestant Episcopal Church, 27. 



Rhode Island, 63. 



Scott, Bishop Levi, 48, 88, 142, 143, 150. 
St. Louis Christian Advocate, 59. 
Simpson, Bishop Matthew, 41, 88, 99, 

142, 143, 154-159, 211-218. 
Slavery Contest in the Church, 15-29. 
Soldiers, Methodist, 92-95. 
Stanton, Secretary E. M., 98, 152, 153, 

155. 
Stevens, Dr. Abel, 39, 70. 



Texas — 

Struggle in the Church over Slavery, 

31 32 
Thomson, Edward, 39, 88, 114-117, 132, 

159. 
Tract Society, 131. 
Troy Conference, 75. 



Union Church, Philadelphia, 87. 
United Presbyterian Church, 99. 
United States Christian Commission, 
149, 159, 161-166. 
List of Methodist preachers who were 
"delegates" in, 197-207. 



Vermont, 63. 

Virginia Conference, 17, 49. 

W 

Webster, Daniel, 41. 

Wesley, John, 15, 16. 

Wesleyan Methodist Church, 22, 23. 

Western Christian Advocate, 35, 36, 39, 

41, 79, 117-121, 138. 
Whedon, D. D., 70. 
West Virginia 53-55. 

Contest between Churches in, 29, 36, 
40. 

Conference, 47, 48. 
West Wisconsin Conference, 93. 
Wisconsin, 80. 
Wyoming Conference, 80. 

Z 

Zion's Herald, 34, 35, 44, 64, 65, 127, 
128, 131. 



LEFe '13 



228 



THE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
and the CIVIL WAR 



WILLIAM WARREN SWEET 





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